Aliens-Not Alone
by eap404
Summary: (Sequel to Alien Isolation: Not Alone) 57 years after the Nostromo disappeared, Ellen Ripley and the survivors of the Nostromo are finally saved, but they have jumped from one nightmare to another as an outer rim colony has dropped out of contact. Ripley now prepares to face the horrors she only escaped decades earlier, luckily she has some help from some surprising allies.
1. Prologue

Hello all, and welcome to the first chapter or...prologue of my third fanfiction, and my second Alien series fanfiction. FYI for those who haven't, please go and read my first fanfiction ALIEN ISOLATION: NOT ALONE. I would really appreciate it.

Now on with the story. This is the sequel to the prior above named fic, and the majority of the story will (spoiler alert) take place over the course of 1986's Aliens. Now as much as I am dedicated to keeping canon intact I will be changing some details found within the movie's context, nothing too major, but still fairly noticeable.

Anyway enough of my talking, NOW ON WITH THE SHOW!

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Prologue**

The darkness of space, a mixture of blues and blacks, stars and asteroids. Against the darkness of space a lone dot floats across it.

The dot drifts ever closer, details becoming ever clearer and more numerous as the dot reveals itself as a small shuttle. On closer inspection markings become visible, letters forming a word.

_NARCISSUS_. Once it served as the escape shuttle for a larger vessel. Any computer within range that was the least bit curious could link with it and see that the larger vessel had been the USCSS _Nostromo_. The ship itself had gone missing over fifty years ago, the _Narcissus_ having been adrift the entire time.

Inside the craft, three survivors sleep in cryostasis.

Of the eight members of the _Nostromo_ crew, six were now dead...

The ship had received a distress signal on its way back to Earth, said signal led the crew to a planetoid near Zeta 2 Reticuli. They homed in on the signal, an apparent SOS, and stumbled across a derelict alien ship containing countless numbers of eggs. The discovery brought instant regret as executive officer Kane was attacked by some sort of parasite, which launched onto and attached itself to his face. Shortly after they had left the meteoroid, the parasite appeared to die and fall off Kane's body. Later, during dinner, a creature unlike any the crew had ever seen emerged from Kane's body, killing him in the process, and one by one the crew were killed by the creature. The engineer's mate, Brett, was the first to die horribly, then Captain Dallas, then Engineer Parker and Navigator Lambert.

The organism itself was bad enough. It was deadly, intelligent, and clearly sadistic in the manner in which it had first toyed with and then tail raped and murdered Lambert. It just wasn't the only threat. What made matters even worse was when Third Officer Ripley, along with Chief Tactical Officer Mils, discovered that the Company had betrayed them. Weyland-Yutani wanted the creature to be preserved for their Bioweapons Division, as it was deemed the "perfect organism" by the ship's Science Officer, Ash, who was revealed to be an android sent to protect the creature. All other considerations had become secondary to bringing back the alien. The rest of the crew, according to Special Order 937, had been deemed expendable.

Out of desperation, the surviving members of the crew decided to blow up the ship, and escaped on the _Narcissus_. Though they succeeded at blowing up the ship, the creature somehow survived. Its biomechanical appearance had enabled it to blend in with the ductwork aboard the Narcissus, and when the Nostromo's engines detonated, it revealed itself and cornered the two survivors on the shuttle. Mils was wounded by the creature while Ripley donned a spacesuit, but the two of them worked together to finally eject the creature out of the shuttle and into the path of its engines.

With the creature dead, both Ripley and Mils finally breathed a sigh of relief...they have laid inside the chambers now for almost sixty years, untouched by time, waiting to be found.

The _Narcissus_ is discovered by a massive salvage ship, the small shuttle is sucked up into a holding area of the exterior of the ship and is clamped to it with a thud, after which the door to the shuttle is cut open and a robot emerges. Once inside it scans the surrounding area, and once the scanning cone of vision washes across both Mils' and Ripley's forms twice it turns it's scanner off and backs out of the doorway it had cut open. Three men, all wearing protective suits enter the shuttle and begin searching its interior with large industrial flashlights. One approaches the hypersleep chamber containing Ripley and her cat, Jones. He wipes his hand across the frost-covered dome hull of the stasis pod, revealing the pair a little more clearly. He checks a terminal nearby and sees that Ripley's life readings are still strong.

"Bio readouts are all in the green, looks like she's alive...cat's okay too" one of the salvage crew say to the pair to his left checking on Mils' pod.

"Same goes for this one over here," one of the two men add, and the leader of the crew takes off his mask and breathes a sigh of slight disappointment.

"Well there goes our salvage boys...better get the Captain down here," he says as his compatriots take their masks off.

Within days of the _Narcissus_ being found, Weyland-Yutani and the US government are contacted separately. It was the equivalent of finding a lifeboat from the Titanic only all the people in it were still alive and hadn't aged a day. There were now two witnesses to what happened to the _Nostromo_ and the other members of the crew.

Now all that matters is if the two survivors should wake up...

...

Meanwhile thousands of miles above Earth a large, a gun metal covered ship makes it way towards a military space station for some shore leave. The ship carries a small strike team of a little more than a dozen United States Colonial Marines.

The name of this ship is the USS _Sulaco_, an Conestoga Class Transport ship, it's current a cargo were the Marines of Platoon 3091, Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Colonial Marine Regiment, 1st Colonial Marine Division.

They were more colloquially known as Bravo Team.

In the crew quarters which also counted as a "lounge" of sorts, the fifteen members of the team were scattered around the large area.

At the poker table Corporal Cynthia Dietrich, Private First Class William Hudson, and Private Ricco Frost were playing a rather casual game of Texas Hold 'Em, with Hudson trying to keep a cool head despite his losing streak.

"Awh shit! Man, if we were playing for real I'd be _fucked_..." Hudson says adjusting his reversed baseball cap.

"Hudson, you know this isn't a practice round," Dietrich says, smiling and not taking her eyes off her cards.

"Wait, _what_?" Hudson says in mock surprise. Frost shakes his head, chuckling as he takes a sip of his beer.

Privates First Class Tim Crowe and Trevor Wierzbowski are sitting by their lockers, Wierzbowski leafing through a pornographic magazine, while Crowe is busy trying to get a rather sleazy image of his girlfriend off the back of his chest armor, cursing silently to himself yet nodding with approval at every page Wierzbowski showed him from his reading time.

"Hey check this one out Crowe...pretty nice huh?"

"Yeah, I didn't know your sister posed for Playboy, Ski..." Crowe replied rubbing away at the faded porn on his armor

"Oh, fuck off!" Wierzbowski replies with a half-hearted grin, throwing the magazine at Crowe.

Corporal Dwayne Hicks is quietly dozing in a comfy chair near a muted Television, while Corporal Raylene Ferro is in the hangar doing some last-minute maintenance on one of the UD-4L "Cheyenne" Dropships located in the hangar. Looking down, she sees PFC Daniel Spunkmeyer reading a comic book.

"Size six socket?"

He reaches over without looking and hands her the first thing his hands come into contact with. Instead of taking the proffered implement, she raises her leg and stomps on his shoulder, causing him to grunt in pain.

"Ow! Ferro, what was that for?!" he complains, rubbing his shoulder.

"I asked for a size six socket...you handed me the oxyacetylene torch, Genius!" Ferro says.

"You and I both know the Marines took me for my looks and not my brains," he replies, handing her the proper tools.

"Considering you were drafted I'd say neither really are a factor."

"Funny, funny, Ray Ray!"

Meanwhile in the weight room section of the ship, Private Mark Drake and Pfc Jenette Vasquez were lifting weights, constantly challenging each other to go up on the weight they were each lifting. Being the two smart-gun operators they had to be in top physical shape.

"Come on baby one more rep...one more rep. Come on, you sexy bitch!" Drake says spotting Vasquez on the bench

"Alright, estúpido, you want it, you got it!" She replies as she lifts the heavy weight up from her chest with a grunt, racking the bar with a loud clang.

"There we go!" Drake yells at the top of his lungs, causing everyone to turn their heads towards he noise. only to turn their heads back to what they were doing with a sigh.

"Chingale mi…" Vasquez mutters, exhausted but happy.

"Love ya, baby," Drake smiles at her.

In the rec room near the sleeping Hicks, a pair are currently engaged in a game of checkers, with two black pieces gaining up on one red one. The loser, a bubbly and excitable blonde nicknamed "Sparks", AKA PFC Ashley Stone, turns her head towards the sound of Drake's triumphant exclamation. She has a cute blonde buzz cut that looks more like white paint than hair next to her Southern California tan. Her ice blonde eyebrows raise, and her strong blue eyes widen in momentary surprise. When she turns back toward the game she sighs, as she sees her competitor hasn't advanced at all on her one piece.

She was generally friendly towards all the Marines in her platoon, but she had gotten closest with her current opponent, her best friend, Corporal Christopher Mils, who was solely focusing on the beer in his hand and the board in front of him.

Mils has dark brown hair and a hint of grey in his eyes. He is tall, too. In fact he is the tallest member of the platoon, edging out Frosty by just a few inches at 6'4". His fellow Marines call him "Stretch" for that very reason, as height runs in his family, both his mother and father having been fairly tall.

His gaze slightly drifts away from the board to the fairly attractive woman sitting across from him, and though he has known her for several years, by this point he has found it harder and harder to suppress his feelings about the woman he calls his squad mate. They had joined up at the same time, went through boot camp and infantry training battalion at the same time. They are inseparable, even though their personalities differ as Mils, like Hicks in a lot of ways, tends to be quieter and lead by example, which also is in accord with the platoon's commanding NCO, Gunnery Sergeant Al Apone, who tends to bark orders out loud like a drill instructor.

He is snapped out of his gaze by Stone's observation of Vasquez and Drake's workout antics.

"Sooo...either Vasquez and Drake have finally decided to consummate their Corps marriage, or she finally benched Drake's weight goal on bench," Stone commented, like a scientist who had just observed a new type of behavior in a bacteria under a microscope. Mils only grunts in response as he's busy ogling Stone's figure, which it probably doesn't help that she has her Colonial Marine Corps jacket unzipped, revealing her tank top which currently housed her rather large and lovely...

"Hey, Chrissy!" Stone yells to get her friend's attention.

"Huh? Uhh...sorry, guess I was daydreaming," Mils responds, blushing so hard from having been caught in the act that his head could have resembled a tomato.

"Uh huh," she answers skeptically, cupping her breasts and lifting them, grinning like the cat that just ate the canary as she speaks. "Look, I know that staring at _these_ is part of your job description and all, but could you _maybe_ make an exception, just for once?"

"Ahh, sorry Sparks. So where were we?"

"I think we were trying to finish the game we started - _six hours ago_!" she responds loudly, leaning in and smiling.

"It hasn't been that long," Mils says, looking her in the eyes for once before moving his two pieces into position.

"It's called hyperbole, big guy."

"I know, Ash. And it's also called...your move."

"Oh..." Stone says as she plans to execute her movement on the board.

"Ya know, it'll be good to get some shore leave after the last op," Mils states trying to distract her.

"You said it. After all the shit we've been through, a week seems like a vacation."

"Technically, it's eight days...but I get your point. Oh it's going to be good to sleep in a normal bed!" Mils exclaims, leaning back with his hands on top of his head, stretching with his eyes closed.

It is just the moment she has been waiting for. With a smirk Stone quickly moves her red piece over both black pieces, not only kinging the piece, but winning the game.

"King me! Match, set...your winner, the beautiful and talented Private First Class Ashley Nicole Stone!" Stone yells surprising Mils and getting everyone's attention.

"Ahh...son of a bitch!" Mils says with a mix of mock anger and shock.

"And the loser, who's buying all his squad mates a round of drinks...Corporal Christopher Mils!" Stone yells to the rest of the squad who all yell with excitement, all except Hicks who wakes up from all the commotion.

"Only covering the non-alcoholic beverages," Mils yells half heartedly. As the rest of the squad celebrate, Gunnery Sergeant Apone walks in on the racket, chewing on his cigar with the team's synthetic, Bishop, next to him.

"Now that is a damn good sight right there...a damn good sight!" Apone yells getting the attention of the platoon. He isn't an officer, so the platoon doesn't snap to attention standing stiff and straight. Instead they act as if the captain of the football team had just walked in.

"Hey, Top! What's the op?" Hudson asks, adjusting his hat as Apone walks into the rec room, while the group gathers around him in a circle, expecting an epic speech.

"Now as you all know there is _nothing_ I love more than the good and glorious Corps. Every meal's a banquet, every paycheck a fortune, every formation a parade, and for now...every shore leave a vacation!" Apone finishes as the squad high five each other in a celebration.

"So when we arrive at Jackson your scraggily asses are as free as birds for 200 hours - but know _this_, people! _IF_ you are late to roll call on Monday morning at 0500, your ass _will_ become space dust, and I'll be the dust buster...do I make myself clear?"

Nobody answers.

"I SAID DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR MARINES!" Apone yells taking his cigar out of his mouth.

"SIR YES SIR!" They all yell in unison.

"Well then, dismissed."

"OO-RAH!" They hustle to the platoon's locker room, grins plastered so thickly on their faces they could have been carved from marble, as Bishop approaches Apone with the Marines gathering their things.

"They definitely look happy to be off duty," Bishop observes.

"Happy Marines...happy platoon daddy...happy android?" Apone asks looking towards Bishop.

"I suppose I could be considered content."

"You know, Bishop, you could go with them."

"I'm fine with staying and watching over the ship Gunnery Sergeant...and this message came for Corporal Mils," Bishop says as he hands Apone a piece of paper, he briefly looks at it and sighs while chewing on his cigar some more.

Back in the squad bay, the Marines are still chattering excitedly, knowing they have two hundred hours of doing whatever they want ro do. The notion of modesty was long since extinct as they had seen each other naked many times in the cryogenic compartment. Thus it is a foregone conclusion that stripping off their uniforms in front of each other, knowing that for two hundred hours they would either wear civvies or nothing, is much more exciting. The female lockers were still kept separate from the male lockers in an attempt at gender solidarity, but they have been taught as Marines that Death does not discriminate by sex.

"Hey Vas, where you going for shore leave?" asks Stone.

"Eh Ash, don't really know, but as long as there's a gym, a bar and a shooting range I'm just fine," Vasquez responds.

"I thought you'd wanna be away from guns for a while considering all the action we've seen" Dietrich added putting on a new shirt and jacket.

"Something about a gun just gets me going, ya know?" Vasquez adds, taking her lucky headband off and putting it in her locker.

"You and Drake both share that trait," Ferro says, putting on some small earrings.

Vasquez turns towards the pilot. "Like you and Spunkmeyer don't share a love for all things with an engine," she points out.

"Among other things..." Dietrich says under her breath which causes Stone's eyes to widen and for her to form an O with her mouth that slowly widens into a huge grin.

"That's the _only_ thing we share. Spunky's sweet but not exactly the smartest guy. Good copilot though, real good copilot, and that's not an innuendo, Sparks," she retorts, pointing at the riflewoman for emphasis. "And don't look at me with those puppy dog eyes! You've had a thing for Mils ever since boot camp!" Ferro adds, with Stone's face showcasing a shocked expression.

"Oh, come on - that's just not fair!" Stone pouts.

Nearby, the male squad mates equally look forward to shore leave, with Hudson going on and on in true form about all the women he plans to sleep with.

"I'm telling ya, man - the ladies are gonna be all over the ultimate badass tonight!" Hudson yells loudly celebrating as he takes off his Marine shirt.

"I swear, the bigger you boast, the worse you end up losing in the end Hudson" Frost says shaking his head.

"Aww come on, it's not that bad! I always score on a few colonists who need to lose their virginity," Hudson argues.

"Yeah, and every time you do, you end up being caught in the act by said colonist's father or boyfriend or both!" Crowe points out.

"And every time that happens you call upon us for the evac," Spunkmeyer ironically points out, putting his dog tags around his neck after changing shirts.

"Ahh, come on - it hasn't happened that many times, has it?" Hudson says sarcastically.

"It's in the double digits at least," Wierzbowski states, reaching under his shirt to apply deodorant.

"That many?! No fucking way!" Hudson exclaims.

"Face it Hudson you are fucking hopeless - if you had a face like _this_, the ladies would be all over you" Drake comments, aiming his index finger at his own jawline for emphasis.

"Only Vasquez finds that face attractive," Spunkmeyer mutters.

"Fuck off, pole smoker. Go fuck Ferro again!" Drake says.

"Man, I'm too short for this shit. I mean seriously, I think I could do a combat drop off a fucking dime," Hudson muses aloud, contemplating his current situation as he pulls on a shirt. A passing thought gets him thinking, though, and he turns back to the others. "Really though, guys. How many times have you pulled me out of the fire?" Hudson asks with a more serious tone.

"Eleven," Hicks answers, tying his boots while holding a cigarette in his mouth. "We - or should I say _I _\- have pulled your short-as-shit horndog ass out of that pussy-lit fire eleven times, twice by myself, four times with Stretch tagging along, and five times with the whole squad," Hicks points out as he finishes the knot on his boots.

"Shit, I really am hopeless. I guess I need to have a tracker on me or something," Hudson says, grabbing a pair of aviator sunglasses just as Mils walks up, his hair wet from taking a quick shower.

"You would remember where we put it, and knowing how tech savvy you are, you would probably end up hacking it or something," he says jokingly.

"Ehh there's the bartender; I'd like my first drink to be an ice cold..." Hudson begins before he is interrupted by Apone.

"Stretch, get your lanky ass over here son!" Apone yells from across the room near his locker, and Mils instinctively jogs over to the platoon sergeant.

"What's up, Sarge?" Mils asks as Apone holds up a piece of paper with a few paragraphs of info printed on it, along with Weyland-Yutani corporate letterhead.

"Got a little detour for ya, Stretch. Wey-Yu found something so important you have to go check it out. Must be some shitty time capsule you sent up while in the Girl Scouts, I reckon. Anyway, once we dock you're to head to Gateway Station ASAP. Don't worry, it should take only a few hours for you to get there and planetside...that is if they don't try to recruit you. Here," Apone says as he hands Mils the letter.

On said letter, a message detailing an "insurance policy" related to a distant family member of his. The letter is signed by A "Carter J. Burke".

"Great...fan fucking tastic"

"Relax sweetheart...way I see it the beer you so graciously will be paying for will still be cold when you get planetside, just remember...You're a marine and a damn fine one, don't let this bureaucratic shit get in the way...Hear me?" Apone says walking away with his cigar in hand. Mils keeps looking over the letter skeptically, wondering why he's being told about an insurance policy now of all times.

Once the _Sulaco_ arrives at Jackson Military Space Station, the squad of Marines embark into the departure section, all looking forward to the next eight days.

"Shore leave here we come...express elevator to PARTYTOWN going down - wooh!" Hudson yells as they move into a shuttle, while Mils stays on the station.

"I'll catch you guys in a few, got some business to attend to," Mils says, holding his duffel bag over his shoulder, as Stone walks up to him before she gets on.

"What's up, Chrissy?" she asks.

"Would you stop calling me that!" Mils stresses

"Okay Stretch..." Stone surrenders, still grinning from her high off her slight victory from the checker game.

Her high also comes from Mils's laser stare at her cleavage earlier, but she decides to keep that little bit of satisfaction to herself for now.

"I've got some business to take care of at Gateway...I'll catch up," Mils explains.

"Well, don't be too long - and you better not cop out on the free round you owe everyone!" Stone says, punching Mils lightly in the arm before she leaves, and he smiles and comically salutes the squad as the doors to the shuttle close for the descent to Earth. Mils waits for the shuttle for Gateway to arrive, unsure at what news awaits him.

…

Across the vastness of space, on a lonely, desolate planetoid known as LV-426, there is a human colony funded and owned by Weyland-Yutani. Ostensibly, the purpose of the colony is the discovery of salvage, but perhaps more importantly is the extraction of minerals in the 'toid's crust. The colony contains a little over a hundred colonists with basic security, science, medical and administrative teams. For the colonists life is cramped, but still worth living as many live on the colony with their families.

The colonists named their new world Acheron, and their little burgeoning boom town Hadley's Hope.

In the science building of the colony, a few botanists and geologists are hard at work on some soil samples to see if the colony could produce any form of agriculture. One of the scientists working on the samples, a geologist named Doctor Valerie Dillon, is currently comparing the soil of the meteoroid to that of the Earth's. The Acheron soil samples are few and quite barren, being as there is no loose soil on Acheron anywhere - it has to be cut out of the crust and brought in to be pulverised by lasers before analysis can begin. It hasn't been a stretch of the imagination so far to say that the crust of Acheron is tougher than a Company boss's hide.

But Val Dillon, after a nasty divorce following the conviction of her husband for murde, plus his subsequent sentencing to life in prison on Fiorina 161, which is notorious for confining men who were identified as "Double Y Chromo", had decided to rethink her life, and she applied for an outworld posting. When she got the message saying she was to ship out for LV-426, she had jumped for joy. The smile could have been carved from her ebony features.

She looks over to her colleague, a tall woman with brown hair and a pair of glasses on. She holds a small clipboard and pen, jotting down a few notes about the specimen of grass she is currently studying.

The woman's name is Elizabeth Amanda Ripley, named after a friend of her parents and her grandmother. Her middle name coming from her mother's first, while she took her mother's maiden name as her last when she left college, her form of independence.

Both she and her brother wanted to tour the stars, though they went through it in different ways - her brother had entered the military, making it through Colonial Marine boot camp, and she had gone into the civilian corps as it were, going into the scientific sector of Weyland Yutani, which at the time brought on the ire of their parents, especially their mother.

Though she is younger than most scientists in the colony, she makes up for it with a very well versed knowledge of her field which ranged from agriculture to horticulture, and from botany to zoology. Her age has also attracted the occasional flirtatious intern or assistant...or in one case a janitor. As a scientist she thought she would face the unknowns of space, maybe even discover a new alien species or something of that nature. She smiles at her unintended pun - except for facing the reality that her job might consist of nothing more from day to day than looking at cups of soil and grass and determining what grade it should get based on how fertile it could be, Ripley is just enduring another day in paradise.

She was snapped out of her daze as she looked towards Dillon, who was celebrating her recent discovery.

"Yes! The soil is retaining 70 percent water! In theory, if we can keep the soil hydrated for a longer period of time it should finally produce a healthy specimen."

"In theory?" Ripley questions raising a skeptical eyebrow towards her friend, who looks sheepish at the sight.

"Well we'd have to work out sunlight, which we haven't had in some time - UV lamps ought to be sufficient if we can adjust them to a precise wavelength - but as much as it rains around here, we should have plenty of water for the next month or two" Dillon explains.

"Well, Val, sounds like all we need is a giant heat lamp, " Ripley says, taking a sip of her coffee.

"If _that's_ all we need I'm sure Maintenance will give us the parts," Dillon humorously suggests, which causes the pair to laugh. Ripley checks her watch, noticing that the duo has been working for over ten hours nonstop.

"Hey, do you realise what time it is? Damn, it's late! We should probably grab some dinner." She looks at her watch again to be on the safe side, and sighs. "At this hour, knowing our luck, it's probably an early breakfast," she adds.

"Too true, my friend, too true. Though drinking coffee this late might be counterintuitive..."

"Look at you with all the big words..."

"I _am_ a doctor" Val shrugs.

The two scientists quietly eat their dinner/breakfast alone in the main mess hall area.

"So, with any luck Haynes will give us a little more attention with our soil theory," Ripley says, biting into what's supposed to be an egg salad sandwich and grimacing at the flavour.

"True, but it's not like we're at the top of the food chain. From what I hear the bioweapons division gets all the attention and they have only one guy working for them. What was his name, Barker? Yeah, Barker sounds about right," Dillon replies.

"Yeah, I think I do know him, he's always awkward around me for some reason."

"Probably 'cause you literally look down on him Ellie..." Val smiles

"Not _my_ fault my parents played basketball and ran track."

"Still, I don't think you'll have to worry about him. He left for Earth a few days ago. Speaking of, when's your next trip home?"

"A week from now - plenty of time to get the presentation done."

"Any plans for home?"

"Probably just take it easy, relax on a beach somewhere with an umbrella drink in my hand and not a care in the world. The question is, can my assistant hold the fort of soil down while I'm gone?" Ripley says trailing off.

"I've got it covered...anyway what about your brother? Is he still single?" Dillon asks, hiding her grin by taking a bite out of her cheeseburger.

"Don't you even think about it, Val," Ripley warns.

"Aww, come on - I can't daydream?"

"Not about my little brother you can't."

"I thought you were twins!"

"Yeah, but I came out first. At least that's what Mom told me."

Val smiles, "I'm sure your dad told your brother the same thing."

"I'm sure he did. Anyway, what about you? You never talk about your family much, why?"

"Well the one ex I have was a hit and run relationship and it wasn't exactly pleasurable...it _sure_ as hell wasn't pleasurable for me. Then there's my brother who hasn't called me in a few years. Family is hit or miss for some people."

"Too true," Ripley replies as she finishes her sandwich and Dillon her burger.

"Well Ellie, I'm going to hit the sack. Night," Dillon says, throwing her trash away.

"Goodnight Val...see you in a few hours."

"Ugh, don't remind me…" Dillon says as she rolls her eyes.

Once Ripley returns to her room, she changes into her night outfit. Changing might have been an exaggeration as she actually has just a few outfits, all of them identical. Her night outfit is just her normal work outfit with the top unzipped and her shoes kicked off.

As she lays down on her small modestly made bed, she turns to look at the family picture on her nightstand, taken around the time she graduated from college.

She had her cap and gown on, smiling like a goofball as always. Her mother was a little teary-eyed as she held her Daughter's arm proudly displaying the diploma, and her father was behind the two women placing a hand on his wife's shoulder. Next to her, holding on to her other arm and holding up a thumbs up with his free hand was her brother, all dressed up in his Colonial Marine dress uniform.

This was one of the last times they had been together. Shortly after that her brother shipped out on assignment, while she had been assigned to the Outer Veil colonies.

Sadly, the next time they were together tragedy had struck. Her dad had been killed in a accident, and a few years after that her mother had passed away from cancer.

After the funeral, her brother had shipped out again, that time for longer, and shortly after that she had been posted to LV-426.

She missed her brother, of course. Though she wouldn't admit it openly, they were twins and it felt like they had a cosmic connection of sorts. They were together in the womb, so it only made sense that, apart, they felt a little uncomfortable in certain situations.

As she began to drift off to sleep, she thought one thing to herself.

"I only hope you're having more fun than I am Chrissy..."

End of Prologue

...

So that's a wrap for the prologue for Aliens: Not Alone hope you all like it and stay tuned for more.

Also as in Alien Isolation: Not Alone story I'm going to go ahead and identify who would play Christopher Mils, Ellizabeth Ripley and Ashley Stone.

For Mils it would be Don Johnson from Miami Vice.

For Ripley it would be Catherine Mary Stewart from Weekend at Burnie's and The Last Starfighter.

For Stone it would be Helen Slater from Supergirl (both the movie and the TV show)

Now for Andrew Mils I'm not sure because I'm not sure what role he'll play yet in the story.

Anyway thanks for all the views and I appreciate any feedback.


	2. Chapter 1: Introductions & Awakenings

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Chapter 1: Awakenings & Introductions**

Gateway Station.

To many it serves as a beacon of humanity's accomplishments since the turn of the millennium. Not only was it a symbol of humanity's success in the space age, but also of what it could accomplish if it worked together. The assembly of the station was a cooperative endeavor with several nations and corporations having taken part in the construction.

The catch to this cooperative project was that each nation or corporation had its own wing or section awarded to them for their contribution to the station's creation. One of the most well-kept sections, which even had its own medical facility, was the one that belonged to Weyland-Yutani. Currently residing in the medical wing were the two survivors of the ill-fated Nostromo, Ellen Ripley and Andrew Mils.

Ripley starts to stir and slowly begins to wake up, prompting a nearby nurse to help her get comfortable.

"There we go. How do you feel?" The nurse asks.

"Terrible..." Ripley says groggily as she begins to get an idea of her surroundings.

"Where am I?" She asks looking out the window and seeing the blue shine of Earth, she looks around with anticipation of the nurse's answer

"Gateway station, just a few thousand miles above Earth. You've been out for a few days, same as your friend over there," the nurse explains, looking towards a sleeping Mils, who lays in the bed next to Ripley with a curtain shielding his sleeping form from her gaze. She breathes of sigh of relief, seeing that her friend made it.

"You were pretty groggy at first, but now you're okay. Looks like you have a visitor..." The nurse says motioning to the door, and a man in a suit walks in holding an orange striped cat. The man looks familiar for some reason.

"Jonesy! Come here!" Ripley says with a big smile on her face.

"Looks like you two have met," the man says handing the cat over to Ripley. The man takes some time before introducing himself to Ripley.

"My name is Burke. Carter Burke. I work with the Company...for the time being anyway. You've been out for awhile so I'll let you and Mr. Mils rest," Burke explains. This causes Ripley to look over to Mils's hidden form as another nurse approaches him with a doctor.

"Still no success of getting that thing off?" Burke asks.

"No not yet, it's attached to his scalp...if we try to remove it by force it could tear his face off." The Doctor's words haunt and alarm Ripley, as they're the same words that Captain Dallas said when examining Kane when he had that parasite on his face...

Ripley acts quickly, swiping the curtains away to reveal Mils with an identical parasite on his face. Her own face goes slack with horror, and she is stunned by Jones' sudden, unexplained hissing at her. That's not right, she thinks, he never hisses at me.

Ripley all of a sudden feels a pain in her chest. Burning, tearing, breaking. This isn't happening! She lays back down on the bed, and the doctor and nurses begin to attend to her, perplexed by Ripley's condition. She pulls up the hospital gown to reveal something beginning to burst through her chest, tearing through her skin.

"NOOOOOOO-"

"No!"

Ripley awakes from the nightmare, clutching her chest. It's dark. She's alone. She can breathe. No blood, no pain, no devil creature. She instinctually reaches for and cradles Jones to her chest, while he mewls curiously, almost as though he is asking "BAD DREAM?".

"Shhh... it's okay, we're okay," Ripley says, looking over to Mils's peacefully sleeping form in the bed next to her.

No parasite.

Maybe it was all a dream, a horrible, horrible nightmare that had finally, mercifully come to an end.

She knows the truth differently. She had only had a nightmare, but you could wake up from a nightmare. She and Mils had gone into hypersleep after having dealt with one of those things. That could never have been a dream.

"We're okay...it's over," she quietly repeats to herself. The nurse that was attending her and Mils comes on a small console screen next to Ripley's bed.

"Bad dreams again?" she asks

"Yeah..."

"Do you want something to help you sleep?"

"No. No, I've slept enough...need to go for a walk anyway," Ripley says to herself, slowly beginning to drift back to sleep.

Cpl. Christopher Mils usually could keep himself entertained. Twiddle his thumbs, count to a million, things like that. But nothing is working this time, and that means that Mils is finally bored out of his mind. He had been waiting for Weyland-Yutani's representative, some dickhead named Burke something, to meet him about this "insurance policy".

It had been two hours since arriving at the Wey-Yu wing of Gateway. Finally after an eternity, a man in a suit with a small folder walks towards Mils, and as they make eye contact Mils stands up. The man approaches him, taken aback by the Colonial Marine's height.

"Corporal Mils, I presume?" the man asks, looking up at the taller Mils.

"I guess that makes you Mr. Burke," Mils says offering a handshake, which Burke accepts cheerfully, the practiced cheerfulness of the Company bureaucrat.

"Come into my office," Burke says, showing Mils down a hallway and into a small sterile office. He motions Mils to sit in a chair opposite his own, an equally sterile desk situated between them, before he sits.

"I appreciate you taking the time to come see me on such short notice," Burke explains.

"Well, hopefully you can make this quick -my shore leave just started," Mils responds with an expectant smile, as he adjusts himself in his nondescript chair.

"I understand, and hopefully this won't take long, but the reason why I contacted you was because of a recent development involving a relative of yours."

"What happened? It's not Elizabeth, is it?"

Burke raises his hands defensively. "No it doesn't involve your sister directly. Rather, it involves your grandparents."

"Grandparents?"

His askance expression at Burke's claim is answered by a nod from Burke, and then Burke opens the folder and looks at some paperwork.

"Your mother was Amanda Ripley, correct?" Burke asks, with Mils nodding.

"And your father was a...David Mils?" he inquires, looking up at Mils for confirmation.

"Yeah...look if this is about last names, my sister took my Mom's maiden name while I took my Dad's. It wasn't out of spite or anything, she did it just to be a little more independent. As for my mother she would often sign things as Amanda Ripley instead of Amanda Ripley-Mils," Mils responds.

"It's not about your parents. It's about their parents - I'm sure you've heard of the Nostromo disappearance."

"Who hasn't?" Mils responds with a shrug. The Nostromo account was old news, if a little sketchy on the details.

"Right. Well, two of the crew members were...well, I guess they would be considered your grandparents by traditional terms." Burke explains, and Mils sighs with a nod, shifting his eyes to the floor.

"Yeah...Mom and Dad took us to the memorial once a year on the anniversary of the ship's disappearance..."

"As I'm sure you know, the ship has been missing for 57 years now..." Burke continues, with Mils growing slightly more agitated with every nod he had to make. If he didn't get out of this office now, he'd be getting out with a cervical collar around his neck, Mils swears silently.

"Yeah, I can count, Mr. Burke, I'm not just a dumb grunt. Come to the point," he finally lets out.

"Yeah, 57 years as of three days ago. That is until a salvage vessel found a emergency escape shuttle - more specifically the shuttle that belonged to the Nostromo...Shuttle Narcissus," Burke says, placing a photograph of the Narcissus on the desk and sliding it forward towards Mils, who then picks it up and examines it closely as Burke continues to brief him.

"The crew weren't expecting to find anyone. They thought it would be vacant, or that the occupants would be dead, but they found three individuals in the cryochambers...still sleeping after all this time," Burke states. Mils eyes get larger as he leans forward closer to Burke's desk

"That's not possible is it?" Mils inquires.

"Possible, but rare. It's a phenomenon called ChryoDistortion, there are only a few cases on record and most of the observed cases were involving plants or house pets..."

"So who was in the pods?" Mils asks, with all his attention on Burke's answer as the bureaucrat pulls a few more photographs out of his briefcase.

"A one year old cat with the name of "Jones" -"

"Who else?"

"Chief Tactical Officer Andrew Mils...and Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley," Burke replies.

Mils is completely shocked by the news, with his breathing becoming rapid as Burke shows the pictures of both of the Nostromo survivors.

"It's not possible. After all this time..." Mils says to himself. "Are they alright?"

"Amazingly, yes they are. From what I've been told, Ripley awoke a few days ago...same goes for the cat. Officer Mils unfortunately is in a coma. He lost a significant amount of blood before he entered cryosleep."

"Do you know if he'll wake up?"

Burke shrugged, "The medtechs are optimistic - "

"Can I see them?"

Burke locked eyes with the Corporal. "That actually is why I contacted you. You see, there is a hearing with numerous groups regarding the Nostromo's fate. Warrant Officer Ripley will be asked to answer some questions in regards to what happened to the ship. I was going to go brief her on what she's up against, and also to inform her of your mother's..." Burke says trailing off.

"Oh God. She doesn't know, does she?" Mils says to himself at finding out that his grandmother has no idea that his mother and father are both dead.

"I was wondering, Corporal Mils, if you would be interested in accompanying me?" Burke asks. "The actual hearing isn't for another couple hours, and the two of you could use the time to get to know each other."

"Uh sure...yeah," Mils says, standing up and following Burke out of his office. While the pair walk, he thinks about what to first say to a woman who he's never met, yet in an ironic way always seemed to know.

Ellen Ripley rarely enjoyed a quiet moment. On the Nostromo it was practically impossible, between Parker and Brett going back and forth about something, Lambert and Mils flirting with each other or Kane and Dallas giving her a bucket list of orders. Now she was dealing with quiet in ample supply.

She had left the room her and Mils were sharing. He hadn't shown any signs of awakening from his coma, though the WeyYu medtechs had given him a diagnosis of a few weeks before he would wake up. She hoped he would wake up sooner than later, the two of them had been through a lot in the last few weeks. At least that was how long she had surmised she and Mils had been adrift.

As she sits on a bench in a meditation room staring at a simulated park by a river, the door behind her opens, admitting Burke and another man who she doesn't recognize.

"Hi, sorry I'm late. I've been running behind all morning. Glad to see you're up on your feet..." Burke starts but is interrupted by Ripley.

"Mr. Burke, did you find anything about my daughter?"

Burke holds up his hand. "I really think we should worry about the hearing now, because we don't have a lot of time. Now I've read your deposition, and it's great, so I think we'll be fine."

Ripley nods her head, daring to hope that maybe something will be done and they can get something good out of it. Her hopes dim, however, as Burke continues, gesticulating with his perceived importance of the thing.

"The thing to remember is, there are gonna be a lot of heavyweights in there. You got the Feds, the Interstellar Commerce Commission, Colonial Administration, insurance company guys -"

"Do you have any news about my daughter?" Ripley insists.

"I'm - well, yes can we, um, sit down?" Burke asks as he opens his briefcase while they all sit.

"You've been out of commission, as it were, for almost 60 years...ChryoDistortion set in around the first year...that's why you aren't bones and dust right now..." Burke explains

"My God...that's..."

"I was hoping to wait till after the inquest..." Burke says grabbing a photograph of Ellen's daughter Amanda at the time of her death, Ripley gazes upon the picture with wonder.

"Amanda Ripley Mils...66 years old at the time of her death...which was two years ago...cancer," Burke explains as Ripley touches the face of the elderly woman in the photo. Her eyes and smile reflect the same happiness Ripley remembers her having before she left for Thetis.

"Amy…"

Burke drones on, a slight tinge of unhappiness settling in as he delivers his sorrowful report. "She was cremated and interred at Westlake Repository, Little Chute, Wisconsin."

"I promised her," she tries to say, clearly struggling against the grief that has begun to set in, "that I would be home for her birthday. Her eleventh - birthday!" She begins to sob openly, knowing that her only child is dead.

"But I checked, and it turns out she had two children. Twins, in fact, a boy and a girl. Her husband was the son of..." Burke explains but is once again interrupted when Ripley raises her hand, silencing him as she remembers something that gives her hope and washes away the grief.

"Andrew, he...he talked about having an insurance policy in the form of sperm donation...that must be who he was talking about..." Ripley says she finally looks up at the man in the doorway.

"Who is this?"

Burke's face lights up a bit. "Yes, I wanted to let you know earlier, but one of her children is in the Colonial Marines. This is Corporal Christopher Mils. I sent for him when we found you." Burke says as he gets up and the man in a Colonial Marine uniform walks in.

"I'll leave you two alone," Burke explains as Ellen and Christopher make eye contact for the first time. They take in each other's appearance.

Ellen looks up at the rather tall man before her, he had her crew-mate Andrew's eyes a crystal grey, but she has her daughter's chocolate brown hair color. Overall there was no doubt in her eyes - the man before her was Amanda's son.

Christopher was currently enjoying a cocktail of emotions, as the woman - the rather tall woman - standing before him looks exactly like the photographs his mother had shown him and his sister when they were little. She appears like he would have expected and he can see what features his mother had inherited. Ellen's eyes are like his mother's, and she has a very determined glare even when her eyes were relaxed, just like his mother's. She is tall like his mother, but her hair is much more curly then he'd expected, it is hard to believe that the woman in front of him looking up into his eyes is in fact his grandmother.

His barely thirty year old grandmother.

Both parties wait for the other to make a move or say something. Finally Christopher breaks the ice slowly with a joke.

"You look at little young to be called Grandma." Christopher's voice cracks a little when he pronounces "grandma". Ripley smiles, still feeling a little numb from her recent bout of grief to process the situation.

"And I wasn't planning on my grandson having a five o'clock shadow..." Ripley slowly replies, slowly smiling as she catches on the word "grandson". Christopher silently curses to himself as he feels his face to reveal a slight scruffiness of bristly facial hair. The platoon sergeant was going to give him a ton of shit for coming back looking like Grizzly Adams while still in uniform.

"Well, I wasn't planning on having a family reunion anytime soon." Christopher responds.

"Fair enough. You know, you have your father's eyes. Or at least your grandfather's."

Chris nods in acceptance. "Yeah, Dad said it was a family trait. I guess it affects women differently - both my Mom and Sister have your eyes," Christopher explains.

"Yeah. Amy," she whispers. "Speaking of eyes, do you think we can talk about this somewhere a little more open?" Ellen asks.

"Uh, yeah, I think there was a food court at few levels up. I'll buy you a coffee," Christopher says, ushering Ellen to the door.

"We're going to take a walk..." Christopher says, nodding to Burke as they pass by him in the hallway.

"Oh! Alright. I'll come get you before the hearing," Burke awkwardly answers.

A few levels up at the food court, Ripley and Mils enjoy some rather good coffee.

"Okay, two coffees, one black for me, and one with everything on the side, cause I really don't know how you take it," Christopher admits with a shrug.

"It's fine, I like it with cream and sugar, if you must know," Ripley says, pouring the contents into the coffee, and taking a sip of the brown liquid she practically lived on when she was on the Nostromo, she was actually pleasantly surprised for when she inspected the coffee it tasted quite good.

"Glad to see that coffee has only gotten better in the last few decades..."

"Yeah..."

"So tell me, how did Amy and your father meet?" Ripley asks, her tone turning curious.

"From what I was told they met during a trip to a free port station. That was around...40 years ago. They started working together ever since then, getting closer and closer over time, and by the time Dad had his own salvage rig they had been going steady for a few years. Practically thick as thieves..." Christopher explains.

"They worked as a salvage crew?"

"Yeah. They had a few good breaks, made some good money in the beginning..." Christopher says with a smile which fades as he remembers something.

"I always wondered why they took on so many jobs all over the place. Kind of seems obvious now..." Christopher continues.

"What?"

"They were looking for you...Dad didn't know his father real well, for obvious reasons, but I guess he still wanted to find closure, just like Mom did...from what I understand they found some form of it on Sevastopol all those years ago. They never said what it was, but Mom had a way of describing what happened on Sevastopol. She said that it was where her and Dad's 'paths crossed and their destinies changed.' Closet poet I guess..."

"Did they ever give up?"

"You kidding me? No. Not even for their honeymoon. The only time they ever slowed down was when..." Christopher explains as he seems to get emotional for a second.

"Mom got diagnosed with cancer a year after they got married. She went through a lot of therapy, and it worked for the time being. She was in remission for a long time...but that therapy came with a price. From what I was told it took a toll on her body...the radiation caused some unexpected side effects...she was medically deemed 'borderline sterile' at one point. It almost destroyed her emotionally - she and Dad kept going through their normal routine, then when they were both almost in their forties, Mom started feeling funny, like she was hungry and nauseous all the time. Well as I'm sure you know, that means just one thing usually."

"She was pregnant."

"Spoken like a expert," Mils agreed. "So she started taking some tests...and bingo, she had two bundles of joy for the price of one night of passion..."

"Ah," Ripley smiles. "That's right, you have a sister. What's she like?"

"She's taken my mother's looks, but my father's attitude. She's very independent and it shows. She took my mother's maiden name after she graduated college. She's a scientist now for Weyland Yutani, currently does a lot of work for Colonial Expansion." Mils smiles, chuckling. "She always was the sharp one."

"Sounds like she takes after her grandfather," Ripley muses. She leans forward, resting her chin on the backs of her hands. "What about you? Why'd you go into the Marines?"

"Well…" Mils opines, "I wanted to be an astronaut, but it takes a lot of studying, prep work, and a long history of contribution to galactic society, and since none of those boxes got checked for me, the Marines was as close as I could get."

"What does Amanda have to say about that?"

"Oh, she didn't want us going into space so quickly, and Mom and Dad shared her sentiment, only they were a lot more insistent about it. We argued a lot about it...till we - me and my sister - used a bit of the old reverse psychology on them."

"Really?"

"Yep." He nodded, grinning. "We reminded them that they both went into space looking for answers to questions they knew might never be answered. We also pointed out that space is what led them to each other, and with that we achieved victory, as it were. They finally let us go to do our thing, and things went well for a few years. I went off on a few deployments, El did some work on the Moon and Titan..."

"El?"

"Elizabeth...that's my sister's name...she's named after a friend of my parents and well...I guess your name..."

"It's Ellen, actually, but Elizabeth's close enough, I suppose. When did you become a Corporal?"

"About six months into active duty," he answered, tilting his head as he remembered. "We were sent in to take care of an insurgency on a moon near a core colony called Haden's Peak...had a population of around six million...it was one of the "Beacon Colonies" as it represented one of the most successful colonies that was privately funded. Anyway we got sent in. The whole battalion - about a thousand of us. The initial drop was bad and we took a lot of casualties...we're talking Normandy levels of chaos and carnage. And anyway our platoon commander and two corporals bought it, so our unit leader, Sergeant Apone, rallied the team...me and a buddy of mine took part in the counterattack..."

"What was his name?"

"Hicks. Quiet, and most of the time sleeping, but when the shit hits the fan you don't want a better guy to have in your foxhole. So after the mission was deemed a success the brass promoted me and Hicks to Corporal."

"Did you end up getting that scar from that?" Ripley says referring to the scar above Christopher's left eye.

"What, this beauty?" He replied, pointing at it. "No, this happened during shore leave soon afterwards."

"What happened?"

"Well..." Christopher begins, but is interrupted when Burke enters the cafeteria in a rush.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but they moved the hearing up an hour. We need to go now."

"Ok, let's go." Ellen answers, taking one last sip of her coffee before she and Mils stand up. Ripley takes a few steps towards Burke before she looks over her shoulder to find Mils standing still.

She turns fully to him and asks, "You coming with?"

"Wish I could, but they're not permitting family members to attend the hearing, it seems. Good luck, though, and I'll be here when you're done. I've just gotta make a phone call" Chris says as he moves towards a private comlink terminal.

Another routine day, and another routine report delivered by Doctors Ellizabeth Ripley and Valerie Dillon, as they present their findings to their colleagues. In other words, it was business as usual in the Hadley's Hope colony on Acheron, the planetoid formerly known as LV-426.

"As you can see from this slide here, with enough moisture and direct sunlight, artificial or otherwise, we can begin producing forms of agriculture in small controlled environmental tanks," Dillon states. Her colleagues nod in initial approval as Ripley adds to the statement.

"In other words, if we can build small scale green houses using spare parts from the unused cryo-chambers in storage, we could begin to see results, more importantly we can begin growing fresh produce and wheat to use as either trade exports or just to feed ourselves," she explains.

"Which in the end either cuts costs, gives us exports or in the best case scenario does both" Dillon says as both she and Ripley exchange nods signifying that their presentation is done. Their colleagues applaud them in a polite way, as their supervisor Dr. Klinger congratulates them.

"Well, very good, you two. Very good, I'll pass the recommendation along to the board, and we should have an answer in about two weeks..." he says, causing the two to frown.

"It's going to take that long?" Dillon asks, disappointed.

"You know how bad the communication can get when it comes an official response on anything." Klinger pantomimes a helpless gesture.

"But what about our samples? We can't just throw them out," Ripley stresses.

"Well the only solution would be to...keep experimenting. Always keep experimenting - never forget that," Klinger answers which causes Ripley and Dillon to exchange confused looks now.

"What? I thought we needed official word from the board to keep going," Ripley responds.

"Well, I can't approve anything too large scale...but I don't think Lydecker is going to mind one missing cryo-chamber," Klinger says, winking towards the two women, who instantly get excited about the new possibilities of their experiment.

"Those are expensive. Almost prohibitively so," Dillon complains.

Klinger shrugs. "So is every burst transmission from here to Earth and back across the Network. Just ask Lydecker, he'll tell you exactly how much it costs just to log on. Two weeks is how many thousands of dollars?"

They don't have to answer. They know, each of them having been told by Lydecker numerous times how expensive a colony can be to operate.

"Look at it this way, girls. Once those export profits start rolling in, we can stop worrying about the expenses. Just be safe and smart...and if possible have the first test subject be tomatoes. I could go for some actual marinara sauce on my ramen noodles for a change," Klinger says before he walks away, and the two doctors squeal with happiness as they hug each other, giddy as a pair of schoolgirls over their proposal passing inspection.

"This deserves a drink," Dillon suggests.

"Amen to that, sister!" Ripley replies, but suddenly a young intern appears behind Dillon, and Ripley looks at him expectantly.

"Dr. Ripley, you have a call waiting for you in the private terminal."

"Can it wait?"

"I don't think so - it's from a private terminal on Gateway Station."

"Earth, huh? Well in that case, I guess I'd better take it. I'll catch you down there, Val?"

"You'd better. I'm not getting hit on by my lonesome this time by Scotty!" Dillon says. referring to the lone bartender at the pier 69 bar, who had a reputation amongst the colonists as a serial Lothario. Ripley walks away towards the private terminal nearby, and once there she enters her password and accepts the urgent call.

The vid screen is blank as the long distance between the colony and Earth doesn't allow video, but only voice communication. Once she hears someone breathing on the other end, she begins the conversation.

"Hello? This is Doctor Elizabeth Ripley...who am I speaking to?" She asks waiting for an answer

"Hi El." The voice on the other line answers, and she's shocked when she realizes that the person on the other end is none other than her twin brother Christopher.

"Chrissy?" she asks, hesitant as she can hardly believe her ears. She hadn't heard from him since that ill-fated drop on the Haden's Peak beacon colony.

"Yep, it's your Chrissy," the voice begrudgingly answers back. With this slightly annoyed answer she knows she's speaking to her brother.

She laughs with relief. "That's my bro alright. To what do I owe the pleasure of hearing your angelic voice?"

"Cut the comedy, El, something's come up."

"You didn't punch your superior officer again did you?" She asks worriedly.

"Okay, first off, he was drunk, and he was hitting on Ash! I had to do something!"

"You were drunk too!" Ripley singsongs back.

"That's beside the point, El! Anyway I called for a reason - there's something I need to tell you..."

"I'm not going to be an aunt, am I?"

"What!? As if! Whatever, though, this is family-related, so you need to hear it."

"Well then spit it out! It's five o'clock over on this side of the universe..."

There is a slight pause, and then his voice takes on a more serious tone. "They found them, Ellie."

"Who?"

"Our grandparents."

"What are you talking ab...you mean...the Nostromo?"

"Yeah. Both of them."

"Ho-lee shit," Elizabeth swears. "How?"

"Ever heard of ChryoDistortion Theory?"

"CDT? Yeah, it's happened here a few times with some new arrivals. It only lasts a few weeks, though, usually."

"Yeah turns out it can last decades...both of them were in hypersleep for the whole time they were missing...that's nearly 60 years adrift."

"They wouldn't have aged a day!" Ripley concludes.

"Yeah. Well, Ellen - that's our grandmother, by the way, in case you've forgotten - is barely above thirty, and Andrew, our would be Grandfather is 33"

"My God do they know about Mom and Dad?"

"Ellen does. Andrew's in a medically induced coma, something happened to him on the Nostromo. Ellen's a little shaken up about the whole situation...Mom was her only daughter after all."

"Oh, she must be grief-stricken...when did all this happen again?"

"Over the last few days...at least that's what they're telling me."

"Look, I've got a trip back home in a week...I'll see if I can get it moved up...I need to see them for Mom and Dad's sake."

"Agreed. So what else is - " Christopher asks before Elizabeth is interrupted by an insistent tapping on the window on the terminal. Ripley turns to see Valerie with a concerned look on her face. Ripley opens the terminal door.

"What's up Val?"

"Ohh nothing just wanted to know how things were going...wanted to see who you were talking to" Dillon asks, smiling as she leans this way and that to peek past Ellie and see who was on the vidscreen.

"You just had to let curiosity kill the cat, didn't you?" Ripley replies with a raised eyebrow.

"Ehh ya know...only if the person on the other line is your somewhat good looking brother?" Dillon answers

"Val, can you -?" Ripley starts.

"Somewhat good looking?!" Mils' says from the other end of the com terminal.

"Well, from what I've heard, Chrissy, you take after your ruggedly handsome father, so the chances of you being good looking are high!" Dillon points out with a hopeful grin.

Elizabeth rolls her eyes. "Jesus, Odin and Buddha! Now you've got the hots for my dad and my brother? Val, you are such a hopeless romantic. You need to go see the colony psych tech for some counseling!"

"No, I need a drink, which you promised me!" she insistently laughs.

"Fine...just give me a sec..."

"Oh alright...nice hearing from you handsome!" Dillon replies as she exits the terminal.

"You too Val!" Mils replies as Ripley turns back towards her brother.

"Whew. Alone at last," she opines. "Now then, where were we?"

"Long lost relatives...please get here soon!"

"Right I will. I promise. Love you Chrissy!"

"You too Ellie. I'll see you sooner than later, I hope," Mils says as the connection goes dead, and Ripley leaves the terminal and heads to the bar, with her head spinning from all the information she had just taken in.

Ellen Ripley currently has a level 10 headache. She had just gotten done telling those at the hearing the tale of how the Nostromo ended up destroyed for the third time in a row, as she looked at Parker and Lambert's dossiers on the large vid screen in front of her, she turned back towards the multi-membered board of investigators.

"Look, I don't understand this. We have been here for three and a half hours. Now how many different ways do you need to hear the same story?" she asks with her frustration still under control, but slowly building.

"Look at it from our perspective please...PLEASE?" One man, Director Van Leeuwen, the subsequent head of the investigation, said pointing towards the chair next to Ripley, she sat down slightly exasperated.

"Now you freely admit to detonating the engines of, and thereby destroying, an M-Class star freighter, a rather expensive piece of hardware." he .

"Forty-two million in adjusted dollars. That's minus payload, of course." An insurance broker to Ripley's right states coldly

"Now we do have to face the facts that the shuttle's onboard flight recorder does coorborate some elements of your account, in that...the Nostromo intercepted a signal, and set down on LV-426 which was an unknown and unsurveyed metoeroid at that time...and that it resumed its course, and eventually the ship's self destruct sequence was initiated, by you, for reasons unknown."

"Not for reasons unknown. I told you. We intercepted a message that we figured was a distress signal from a nearby system...we set down there and investigated on Company orders to get this thing, which massacred my crew! And destroyed your expensive ship," she added, almost as an afterthought.

Van Leeuwen, not buying it, gestures down at his copy of the report. "The analysis team, which went over the Narcissus lifeboat centimetre by centimetre found no physical evidence of the creature you describe."

"Good!" Ripley exclaims. "That's because I blew it out of the goddamn airlock! Like I said…"

"Are there any species like this hostile organism on LV-426?" The same insurance broker asks as he looks over to his right to a female collegue.

"No, it's a rock. No indigenous life..." She replies as Ripley interrupts, shocked.

"Did IQs just drop sharply while I was away? Ma'am, I already said that it was not indigenous. It was a derelict spacecraft. It was an alien vessel. It was not from there. Do you get it? We homed in on its beacon!"

"And found something never recorded once in over three hundred surveyed worlds," she returns, looking down now at her report to read verbatim. "'A creature that gestates inside a living human host' - these are your words - and has concentrated acid for blood.'"

"That's right!" Ripley interjects. She has begun to feel hopeless for her prospects of a favourable resolution to this hearing, and that causes her to speak a little bit of her frustration. "Look….I can see where this is going...but I'm telling you that those things exist."

Van Leeuwen, having already decided that the best and maybe smartest thing was to bring the hearing to a swift close, says "Thank you, Officer Ripley. That will be all."

The warrant officer's frustration is beginning to get the better of her now, as she injects some much-needed urgency to her words.

"PLEASE, you're not listening to me. Kane, the crewmember -" she falters in her frustration, and she takes a breath to steady herself. "Kane, who went into that ship, said he saw thousands of eggs there. Thousands!"

"Thank you! That will be all!"

"GODDAMN IT, that's not all!" She finally jumps to her feet, shouting. "Because if one if those things gets down here, then that WILL be all, and all this, this bullshit that you think is so important!" she continues, as she grabs a handful of a report out of a reaching hearing attendee's grasp and throws it madly to the floor. "You can just kiss all that goodbye! That's why they need to be destroyed to the last one and nothing less can be acceptable, Goddamn it!" Ripley finally yells, stunning all but Van Leeuwen into shocked silence.

"Are you finished, Officer Ripley?" he responds, unimpressed. "Because we were thinking about passing a form of judgement on you here today. I honestly wanted to suspend you myself for conduct unbecoming, but we must face the fact that the other survivor of the Nostromo, Chief Tactical Officer Mils, is in a coma induced by Chryodistortion, and until we hear his testimony, we can't make a clear decision. For now the most we can do is to suspend any licenses you currently hold, and you are to take a remission training course, so you can still get some work...on Earth and Earth alone," Van Leeuwen announces, which causes Ripley to go numb. They clearly weren't buying what she was trying to sell about what really happened. He then intones what sounds like Ripley's death knell, or at least that of her career as a flight officer.

"It is the finding of this court of inquiry that Warrant Officer E. Ripley, NOC14472, has acted with questionable judgment, and is unfit to hold an ICC licence at this time. This is a tentative judgment, to remain in force only until we receive testimony from Tactical Officer A. Mils, NOC14565, and no criminal charges will be filed against you at this time. You are hereby released to your own recognisance for a period of psychometric probation, to include monthly review by an ICC-certified psychiatric technician. These proceedings are closed."

They all stand up to leave, and it is only now that Ripley remembers that Burke is there with them, when he walks toward her to speak.

"That could have been….better. Look, I think that, um, Ripley," he starts to say, but she ignores him as she moves quickly to intercept the leader of the hearing.

"Van Leeuwen, at the very least go take a look at that rock and you'll find what I'm talking about."

"I don't think I have to, LV-426 has had people on it for about twenty years now, and they've never had any complaints about any hostile organism."

"What do you mean? What people?"

"Terraformers. Planet engineers, they go in and set up these big atmosphere processors to make the air breathable. Takes decades. It's what we call a 'shake n bake' colony," he finishes, seemingly impressed by his own sense of wit. He starts to walk out, and is stopped when she puts her arm in front, slamming her hand into the doorframe to barricade him.

"How many are there?" She asks, horrified. "How many colonists?"

"I don't know. 60, maybe 70 families. Do you mind?" He responds, gesturing for her to please lower her arm. She grants his request, allowing him to leave the conference room, but she hasn't actually granted him leave to depart. Rather, she is too numb, her body having gone slack and limp, and it is with an effort of will that she has leaned against the frame to support herself and to keep her mind from retreating into itself in hopelessness.

"Families..." She says to herself. "Jesus….."

After the hearing's decision Ripley, Mils and Burke sit at a table in the food court still dealing with the aftermath.

"You had them eating out of your hands, Ripley" Burke stresses to Ripley, who is still slightly distraught about the whole situation, more specifically, the fact that LV-426, which the Company now called Acheron, was now inhabited.

"Till I cussed up a storm..." she murmurs.

"Had a feeling that ran in the family," Christopher commented with a slight chuckle, to which Ripley smiles slightly.

"Burke, can you give us a moment?" Ripley asks.

"Of course," Burke says leaving the table, taking his briefcase with him.

"You said Elizabeth was on an outer-rim Colony...what is it called?" Ripley asks her grandson

"Hadley's Hope...it's on a planetoid called Acheron...though it used to be called LV-426 from what I hear." Christopher answers. This causes Ripley to get immediately concerned, and she leans forward towards her grandson. She grips his shoulders with a strength that surprises him.

"Christopher? Has your sister ever talked about finding any sort of creature, one that hadn't been discovered by anyone before?" Ripley asks. Christopher thinks about his answer, reminiscing about something his parents had told him years earlier.

"No...nothing but soil and rocks on that planet..." He answers

"They haven't found anything?"

"No they, they haven't been there long...but none of the survey teams have found anything in the last few years. what should they be afraid of, Grandma?" Christopher asks.

"There is something I do need to tell you, about that place...when the Nostromo set down on LV-426 we found something...a parasite...it infected one of my crew...it fell off on its own and died, but then something else…" she shivered with revulsion, "a creature came out of Kane's chest. It slaughtered my crew...and wounded your grandfather Andrew," Ripley explains, Christopher begins to look down at the table as he looks to remember something

"A creature that you can't fight head on...your only defense is to run from it and to trap it and blast it into space," he recites from memory as Ripley looks surprised.

"Yes...exactly...how?" Ripley asks.

"Mom and Dad...they never told us exactly what it was to be scared of...but they always told us to be ready to find a creature that the Devil himself had created...the free port that they met at...it was called Sevastopol. They never told us what happened...they just called Sevastopol the "place where our nightmares are held"" Christopher explains.

"My God...they must have found something"

"I'd say with what happened to the station it's a good possibility."

"Why? what happened?"

"Well…" Christopher starts but is interrupted by Burke who has returned with what looks like a key of some sort.

"Sorry to interrupt, but I have something for you Ripley…it's the key to your new apartment on Gateway. They tend to be a bit expensive nowadays…" Burke says as he presses the keycard onto the table.

"Thank you….it means a lot that Weyland-Yutani cares so much," Ripley says acidly, almost like she is surreptitiously trying to tell Burke to leave them alone.

"It's no problem….I'll give you a call when we have more on your training" Burke says bidding them both a rather awkward goodbye, and the pair then decide to go to Ripley's new apartment.

"It's going to take a while getting used to things," Christopher murmurs as he and his grandmother arrive at her apartment.

"Yes I suppose so….listen Christopher we need to talk without interruptions…or a time limit" Ripley says begrudgingly.

"Yeah, I guess so. Look, Grandma, I ship out again in eight - well, seven days now. I'll come visit you on the sixth day. We'll talk then. I suppose you need some time…" Christopher agrees.

"We'll go see Andrew then….take care Chrissy," Ripley says, laying a hand gently on his shoulder.

"You too...Grandma," Christopher says as he heads down the hall waving goodbye.

As Ellen Ripley returns to her new apartment, she lies down on her bed and looks out into the vastness of space, silently hoping she'll finally get some rest. Rest will be good, she thinks. But what I want, I can't get. Not from the Company...

...

Big shoutout to DarthTenebrus for Beta Reading this bad boy, and making edits for me! Go check out his channel, he's got tons of fics over Star Wars, Transformers and even Buffy the Vampire Slayer.


	3. Chapter 2: Discovery

Aliens is owned by 20th Century Fox/Disney

Certain added dialogue paraphrased from Alien novelisation by Alan Dean Foster

OCs (all four of them) are owned by me.

Beta'd, chopped and screwed by DarthTenebrus, any further mistakes are my own.

**Aliens: Not Alone**

**Chapter 2: Discovery**

To many, LV-426 was at the absolute hind end of space, the asshole of the galaxy, having no reason for any to want to visit it. It had no life to speak of, no breathable atmosphere, no real mineral deposits. Essentially, it was entirely unattractive.

To others it showed promise. it was virgin territory, a big opportunity to show what they could do on a planetoid that hadn't been touched before. The first of many atmosphere processors were shipped to the little planetoid and assembled on the surface twenty-five years ago. Five years later the atmosphere had been officially declared breathable enough to survive, and the first colonists began to arrive.

On the outskirts of Hadley's Hope, a salvage teams heads towards a location where a Weyland-Yutani representative tipped them off to a potentially big payoff. The salvage team, Russ Jorden and his wife Anne, have been on the colony for what feels to them like several months - in reality it has been over a decade, during which they had two children, Timmy who is now ten, and Rebecca who is seven. The family's incredible closeness and their ability to work as a team has enabled them to enjoy past successes on several salvage runs.

Russ looks over the readings on his console as he moved his massive Daihotai tractor, in which he and his family are heading towards an object that the Wey-Yu rep would only describe as a "potential derelict".

"Okay, nothing yet folks - just a few clicks more, though, and it'll be time for payday," Russ calls back to the other occupants of the tractor, and his wife perks up as they approach the designated location.

"Well well well...looks like our Wey-Yu tip wasn't so preposterous after all," she says as she looks with expectation, with the kids arguing over who best plays a game they call "Monster Maze."

"I'm way better at it then you, Timmy!" Rebecca points out.

"No way, Newt, I'm a lot faster - and you only win 'cause you go places we can't fit!" her brother retorts using Rebecca's nickname.

"So? That's why _I'm_ the best!" Newt says, as she lightly slaps her brother on the shoulder.

"Ow! Are not!" Timmy responds mirroring the hitting, which annoys Anne, causing her to turn around to chastise her children.

"Knock it off! If I find either of you in the air ducts again I'll tan your hides!"

"Mom," Newt whinges, "All the kids play in the air ducts…"

"I don't care!" Anne counters, and then Russ tries to get her attention.

"Hey Annie! Come have a look at this, will ya?!" Russ calls out excitedly, almost like a child sneaking a peek at his toys under the Christmas tree.

"What?" She asks just as she catches what Russ has just spotted, as a massive form comes into view. It looks like a giant horseshoe laid flat on the ground, half buried with the upper half sticking out. The Jordens had still half-expected to find simple rock formations - this was no rock. "It's the derelict," Anne concludes.

"Folks we have scored big this time, and it's all mine!" Russ says with a big smile forming on his face.

"Half _mine_ honey..._half_ mine!" Anne points out.

"We get a cut too, right Dad?" Timmy adds, grinning, as his father gives just a mumble of a response.

"Damn, I need to downsize," he murmurs, just loud enough for Tim to hear, causing all to laugh slightly. He points toward a section in the middle of the ship. "Maybe we can have a closer look at that thing, maybe through that crack down the side."

"Shouldn't we call it in?" asks Anne cautiously.

"Let's wait till we know what to call it in as."

The tractor pulls up close to the derelict, and Russ and Anne look at each other nervously. Rocks litter the path between their tractor and the alien vessel, making it dangerously impassable for vehicles, and the tractor parks about a hundred feet from a breach in the outer hull that looks like a crack in a monstrous egg.

"That's as close as we can get," Russ declares. Turning to his wife, he seeks her support. "Shall we take a look inside?"

She nods, and five minutes later Russ and Anne don suits and equipment, ready for the elements and for whatever they find on the derelict.

Anne turns towards her children as Russ zips up his suit, thinking with relief the good news that ,with atmospheric processors now working, they don't need traditional spacesuits.

"Now stay inside, you two - if we're not back in an hour, report back on the emergency channel, Stay inside, I mean it! We'll be right back," she says as Russ nods back to his kids with a smile and wink. Tim and Newt wave bye, and then the door closes as they move back into the tractor.

Several minutes pass, and then a half hour goes by, and Newt's parents haven't returned yet. Her brother sleeps next to her as she holds her doll closer to her chest. She tries to stir her brother as she hears noises coming from outside.

"Timmy? They've been gone a long time," Newt says as her brother just shrugs her off.

"It'll be okay, Dad knows what he's doing." He replies with calm confidence. He smiles - Newt has never known fear before.

With a sudden slam, the door to the tractor is flung open, causing both to jump halfway out of their integuments, and they see their mother. Anne is clearly frightened and exhausted from exertion and adrenaline, lunging with panic and reaching for the radio.

"Tim, Newt? Get ready, we need to go now! Mayday, mayday, this is Alpha Kilo Two-Four-Niner calling Hadley Control! This is Alpha Kilo Two-Four-Niner, Alpha Kilo Two-Four-Niner calling Hadley Control!"

Anne continues yelling into the radio as Newt looks behind her to the ground, to see her father with some sort of disgusting thing attached to his face. Newt has never known fear before, until now, and now she screams her terror to the universe as the wind around them joins in, an unholy chorus mixing in and adding to the sounds of her screams.

Elizabeth Ripley and Valerie Dillon are currently enjoying a few cold drinks in the form of Kent's Kola a form of soda exclusive to Pier 69, it utilizes a chemical combination which, when imbibed, rewards the drinker with a buzz for an hour, leaving one sober afterwards with no hangover.

To be fair, Ellie and Val don't mind the semi-bitter place, and they are relieved and happy to be off, taking in the atmosphere and unwinding after Ellie's conversation with her brother just moments ago, and they are grateful for the drinks even though Kent's has yet to improve the flavor. Elizabeth's head is especially grateful for the momentary buzz, as it has yet to stop spinning after the conversation with her brother moments earlier.

"So they finally found your grandmother?" Dillon says, sipping on her kola.

Ripley sighs, "Yeah...after all this time, I had no reason to believe this day would ever come, but now it's here and, well...I'm kinda shocked."

"That's understandable," Dillon nods. "You live your whole life without someone, thinking you'll never meet them, and then without any warning or preview they just pop up out of nowhere!"

"Ain't that the truth. Knowing us it would happen when neither of us is on Earth permanently."

"Hey, don't you start with the gloom-and-doom bit!" her partner chided her, wagging her finger at Ripley's quasi-morose expression. "Don't you worry about it - you'll be eating Grandma's cookies in no time. We made a big breakthrough with those soil samples and we're enjoying a nice drink of what's supposed to be synthetic alcohol."

Her smile and her fresh humour helps, as her partner's smile widens and brightens by degrees.

"I dunno. Maybe your right, maybe I can get a furlough sooner than later," Ripley opines, just as an intern comes running into the bar looking like he has just run a marathon.

"Doctors Ripley and Dillon?" the intern pants as the two turn their heads, recognizing him at once.

"What's up Thomas?" Ripley asks, her smile fading as Dillon continues drinking, fairly uninterested by the conversation.

"We've got a problem. Doc Hollens is on the other side of the colony and we've got a medical emergency coming in...some salvage workers ran into something... it's the Jordens" Thomas explains, catching Dillon's attention.

"Shit, that's Tim and Newt's family!" She says in alarm.

"Where?" Ripley asks.

"Medical. Quarantine to be precise," Thomas responds, prompting the two doctors to quickly pay their tab and follow him.

Anne looks through the viewing glass at her comatose husband.

She is scared half to death - she has never seen anything like this, not in all her years has she seen anything like the arachniform creature on her husband's face. No eyes or ears gave it any sensory perception, yet it must have positioned itself exactly right to launch out of the egg-like thing and immediately attach itself to his face. They had found the pilot of the derelict, and it was no stretch to say that it wasn't human. It was way too big, plus the facial structure suggested something elephantine in appearance. Any more would need a sophisticated scanner and analysis by more competent people. They had found another passage from the pilot's room, leading down, and Russ had immediately volunteered to go down into the passage. Two minutes later a collapsible tripod had been set up, with a motorised winch and 500 feet of spidersilk suspension line had slowly unreeled to lower Russ into the cavernous interior. He and Anne joked about the heat, and then he noticed a number of leathery objects.

From his description they appeared to be eggs of some sort, dark grayish green in colour, and big, about three feet tall from bottom to top. And there were thousands of them. Right away Russ had thought of trying to get salvage rights to the eggs on board, per maritime law, and sell the eggs to the Company to get a massive profit. Anne had expressed her ambivalence about it, but she knew her family could use the money, especially when the colony could do with an influx of cash.

Several minutes passed in silence as Anne had wondered what Russ might have been doing with one of the eggs, and then a muffled gasp in her earpiece and a sudden jerk on the cable put paid to her ruminations as she went into what she and Russ had dubbed "pre-crisis mode". She stopped the winch and called down to Russ to see if he was okay. When he didn't respond she went into "crisis mode" and reversed the torque on the winch, reeling in the line and pulling up her husband.

She had sent her children away to one of the public centers under the careful watch of a family friend as soon as they got back. Now she looks at the thing that came up with him with dread and revulsion. She patiently waits for the doctors to arrive and work on her husband, her focus on the loathsome thing on her husband's face so intense, that she turns with the speed of a lightning bolt as the door next to her opens and Ripley and Dillon walk in, both looking very concerned.

"Oh my God, you scared me! And thank God! Please help him!" Anne spouts, rushing up immediately to Ripley.

"It's okay Anne...its okay we'll find a way I promise" Dillon says trying to comfort the obviously distraught mother.

"We'll do everything we can, I promise. Valerie, Thomas? Let's get to work!" Ripley says, nodding to Thomas who enters behind them, preparing surgical gowns and masks. They enter the quarantine ward, with the body of Russ Jorden in a cryochamber like the ones that were used throughout the colony for various reasons. Ripley walks over to the chamber and presses a button, and then the hatch pivots open and the comatose salvager swings out towards the two doctors.

"My God..." Dillon says as she regards the abomination on Russ's face, a bizarre and repulsive cross between a spider, a lizard and a scorpion. The tail coiled tightly about his neck several times. It wasn't enough to cut off his air supply, but it looked strong enough to do so and kill the host should it become threatened. Eight legs suggested an arachnid appearance, and the apparent lack of sensory organs suggested it had one purpose, suggested by the twin bladders on the sides of his face. They inflated and deflated in time with the rise and fall of his chest, breathing for him as it were.

"I don't get it. It paralyses him, puts him in a coma, and then keeps him alive, but why? Still, I'm thinking we've gotta get it off him and fast," Ripley says. "I mean, yeah, it's feeding him oxygen, but look at the scanner. It's putting something else inside him as well, something the scanner can't see through."

"You're obviously not worried about killing him if we take it off, are you?" Dillon asks skeptically. "It's keeping him alive for a reason, and if we remove it?"

Ripley points emphatically at the array of screens above the patient. "Yeah, we might kill him, but we'll be killing whatever that little bastard's putting inside him too."

"You'll take responsibility?"

Ripley glares at her partner. "Yes, I'll take responsibility for this."

Val nodded. "Right...Okay, Thomas, start the clock and recording," Dillon orders as the intern flips a few switches, activating the quarantine's security camera and built in microphone, and nods his readiness.

"Okay...Date June 19th 2179...Time is 1802 Galactic Standard Time, Doctors Elizabeth Ripley and Valerie Dillon attempting removal of parasitic organism. Lifeform doesn't match any known flora or fauna on record," Ripley states.

"Organism is currently attached by biological means to the face of a Russ Jorden, salvage worker for Weyland-Yutani Corporation here at Hadley's Hope colony. Age is 37, height 210 centimetres, weight approximately 100 kilos. Patient shows no response to outside stimuli, his breathing is steady and his BPM is sitting at around 70 beats, resembling comatose state of body at this time," Dillon adds.

"In the interests of security and public health, we have decided to remove the parasite from Mr Jorden's face, first by prying loose the digitals, and then if that effort fails we will attempt to cut it away. Making first attempt now," Ripley announces.

She moves a pair of surgical tongs toward the creature's offending limb, and when the cold metal touches the creature it tightens its tail around Russ's neck with a menacing intensity. She notices some of the hair on Russ's scalp is rising as the jointed leg pulls away, and she carefully but quickly lets go of the creature with the tongs.

Dillon notices. "No, that's - it's tearing his scalp!"

"Yeah, I saw that. Damn it, we're not lifting this thing off without ripping his face off too," Ripley admits, her voice heavy with frustration.

"What if we give it an incision across its knuckle...yeah, maybe..." Dillon says under her breath, annoying Ripley.

"You're gonna what?"

"Finger, I'm going to try and cut its fingers off. Just a second," Dillon says as she grabs an ultrasonic scalpel.

"Just be careful," Ripley warns as Dillon places the emitter near a joint on one of the creature's legs. The moment the ultra-high-frequency sound penetrates the creature's chitinous skin a hiss is heard, and a yellowish liquid jets from the wound. A single drop hits Ripley's forearm and smoke begins to rise from where the scalpel's sonic beam first cut. Upon noticing the acrid stench of chemicals reacting, Dillon turns off the scalpel and pulls it back, revealing a smoking, melted mess of metal and plastic.

"What the hell?!" Dillon says, but her gaze immediately turns to her colleague Ripley who is looking at her cloth covered forearm...

"Shit...it's burning right through...awh fuck!" Ripley eventually yells, twisting her forearm over as what proves to be a highly caustic fluid begins to very quickly dissolve a small hole in her flesh. She and Dillon rush out of the quarantine area, the door closing behind them as they make a mad dash for a sink nearby.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck! Thomas? _THOMAS!__! Schwab burn o__intment, grade five!_" Dillon screams as she cuts away the ruined fabric and helps Ripley get the rest of the gown off.

"Grade five?! You gotta be kidding me!" Thomas blurts out as he rushes to the medical closet.

"Get a whole shitload of it!" She yells as he rifles through the medical supply closet, just before he leaves, carrying an armload of ointment tubes and sterile bandages.

"Holy fuck..." Ripley grunts, grinding her teeth in absolute agony as cold water rushes over her skin, and hoping that gravity and the water's neutralising effect can do the job as Thomas arrives with the ointment and bandages.

"Thank you, Thomas. You did great, now contact Doc Hollens and tell him to get his ass over here ASAP!" Dillon orders, seizing the items with an unforeseen urgency.

"Right!" Thomas says as he dashes off.

"What the fuck! Oh God that's some _fucking_ _unbelievable shit_..." Ripley whispers in a shocked voice, hyperventilating, only barely soothed by the ointment Dillon applies to the rather severe burn.

"It's okay now. You're fine, you let that Schwab burn ointment do its thing..."

Ripley nods her agreement, doing her best to keep her breathing under control and to tough it out as best she can, anything to keep from screaming her head off in agony, even as her forearm is attempting its best imitation of a fried egg.

_Don't let me scream, don't let me scream, please for the love of God don't let me scream, _Ripley thinks.

She manages through an unprecedented effort of will not to scream, and the first thing she does when she can get her breathing back under some semblance of control is to curse a blue streak to relieve the fear and pain.

"What the hell was that Val?!" she shouts. "That little fucker's blood is - it's _unbelievably_ corrosive..."

Val shakes her head in disbelief. "I'd place my bets on carborane superacid...that's the only thing that could even come _close_ to producing a burn like that! Son of a bitch!" Dillon replies, her analytical brain kicking in as she wraps Ripley's forearm with a bandage.

"Hell of a defense mechanism. _One fucking drop, too! _Anybody who knew wouldn't dare try to kill it," Ripley says as Val chuckles slightly.

"We definitely need to wait till Hollens gets here before we go any further," Dillon observes, fascinated and horrified in equal measure. "If I were to guess, I'd say that shit's about a dozen times stronger than _any_ carborane acid…"

"Agreed..." Ripley nods, regarding her bandaged arm with undiminished amazement as Thomas returns with news.

"Dr. Hollens is on his way. He said he should be here inside of an hour - "

"An hour? What's taking so long?!" Ripley shouts.

Thomas shrugs. "Man, I don't know. Ask him when he gets….here….what the?" says before looking inside the quarantine chamber with a perplexed look on his face.

"What's up Thomas?" Dillon says as both she and Ripley turn their heads toward the viewing glass, to see what held Thomas's attention.

"The parasite," he whispers. "It's gone..."

Christopher Mils would never have admitted it, but when it came to relaxing his needs were quite simple. Between the action the team had seen in the last few months, and having to deal with Stone's constant teasing, he had to admit it was nice just to lay down on a bed and watch some sports on the Holo TV with a tall boy in his hands.

The hotel they were staying in had provided each marine with their own suite, something Hudson had gone crazy over as he was the most expressive of all the Marines in his platoon when it came to creature comforts. Privacy and comfort both were at a premium aboard the _Sulaco_, as Mils suspected was true of all Colonial Marine vessels, and he was in his own room, laid out on the bed and enjoying a cold one.

As he changed the channel and took another sip of his beer, which he'd noticed for some reason didn't seem to be getting any emptier, he noticed a figure at the foot of his bed. He immediately got concerned as he hadn't noticed anyone enter the room...

The figure crept up onto the bed with slim, toned arms, and begin to crawl like a predator closer to him. Mils tried to move, but he found himself somehow unable to as the shadowy beast crept closer. His fears were realized as the beast crept into the light, and a skimpily-clad Stone stared straight at him.

"Ash? What are you doing in my room?" Mils asked as he felt a tightness in his "Gentleman's Department." He risked taking a quick glance down south, and he noticed a rather sizable tent had formed in his trousers. He turned his attention in fear back towards the woman above him who was looking him up and down with lustful eyes, licking her lips. He thought he might be able to talk her down enough to get her to think straight, but one look in the eyes of the woman astride him told him that was highly unlikely. Nevertheless he ventured to get her to snap out of it.

"Ash?" He spoke carefully, "I know you've been drinking, so I don't think it's a good idea to fuck on the first date...especially since there hasn't been a first date for us yet, plus I don't have protection on. Sparks? Ashley?" Mils says trying to come up with some excuse, any way to break her out of her trance.

It was useless.

Stone's response was very direct. She tore away her tank top Hulk Hogan style, revealing a very large pair of breasts, with brown pencil-eraser sized nipples hard enough to tear holes in the spacetime continuum...as she slid off her panties, the moist heat building between her thighs put Mils in a trance. She reached down to unfasten his trousers, and her touch was electric as she loosed the restraints against his hardness. He couldn't believe it, even as her hand was caressing him, moving him and lining him up for insertion, he couldn't believe this was happening to him, now of all times.

He stared helplessly at the nude body of his best friend in the platoon as simultaneously, she dove lips first towards him at Mach 1 and sat down fully on him, forcing him to thrust himself into a well of white-hot desire...

Christopher opens his eyes with a jerk, looking around left and right at where he is, and he sighs with relief and mild disappointment at seeing that he is still on the shuttle embarked for Miami Beach. He shakes his head, mumbling something to himself at the thought of the incredibly erotic dream he has just had.

"Jesus I'm gonna need a shrink by the time this shore leave's over..." he says as he sees the shuttle slowing down to arrive at the Miami Port. He grabs his duffle bag and moves to the exit, praying silently to himself that his squad mates haven't gotten into too much trouble.

In one of the many hotels that serve as bars, grills and strip clubs along Miami Beach, the Colonial Marines of Bravo Team have been enjoying their shore leave immensely. Frost, Wierzbowski, and Crowe have been involved in a competitive game of pool while Hudson is led to a back room by two strippers, and at the same time Drake is busy restraining an insanely jealous Juanita Vasquez, keeping her from attacking a dancer who had just offered him a one on one lap dance. Spunkmeyer is enjoying a lapdance himself, while a drunken Dietrich and Ferro are both laughing at the Vasquez versus stripper situation.

As the chaos of Bravo Team's shore leave unfolds before her, all Stone can think about as she sips on her first beer at the bar is where her best friend Mils might be.

Though she isn't yet ready to admit it publicly, Stone has had a huge crush on Mils. She had had a soft spot for her "Stretch" ever since Boot Camp, when he helped her up after she had fallen off an obstacle during one of the platoon's infamous "suicide shuffles". She normally isn't one for being a damsel in distress, but she didn't mind getting carried by Mils when she suffered the occasional injury during Boot Camp and later through Infantry Training Battalion..

They have been inseparable since boot camp, and the squad has pretty much treated them as a single entity since their assignment to the platoon, even coming up with sayings like "There's no Stretch without Sparks."

She lools around, patiently awaiting her friend, and another Marine sets his bottle beside her at the bar. She looks up, surprised to see Corporal Hicks.

"Hey Sparks..." he says politely as he sits down beside her.

"Oh, hey. Hey Hicks," she says, allowing herself to feel slightly thrown off by his presence.

"Surprised you aren't on your fourth beer by now..." Hicks says, tilting his bottle to point at the half-full beer still in Stone's hand. It's been no secret that she prefers drinking in order to unwind - she isn't an alcoholic by any stretch of the imagination, but she is a party girl through and through.

"I'm surprised _you're_ even drinking," she responds, pointing to Hicks' almost empty beer in his hand, Hicks was known to be a bit of a straight arrow, and though he smokes it is a rarity for him to be seen with anything alcoholic on his person.

"Thought I'd unwind a little..."

"Wow, you've really come out of your shell!" Stone responds with all the sarcasm of the Colonial Marine Corps at her disposal.

"Well I'm just drinking a beer for Mils, wherever he is," Hicks admits.

"Aww... you _DO_ care," Stone responds as her trademark puppy dog eyes come out in full force.

"Oh, don't you start that shit now. I just hope he's here sooner than later, the squad's not complete without him."

"What about the Gunny?"

"He's visiting family up North from what I heard."

Stone nods and then remembers something important. "Oh. Hey Hicks, can I ask you something?"

Hicks looks back at her with a deadpan expression. "No, I won't marry you. I don't need Mils gunning for me..."

The blonde laughs, "No, but seriously, this actually has to do with him."

"Alright, go ahead..." Hicks sighs, already knowing what the question might be. In truth, Hicks already knew the answer, but he has also known for some time that she needed to ask the question.

"Do you think he likes me?" Stone asks, with a serious look of wonder on her face. Hicks smiles to himself and dashes his cigarette out into an ashtray, and he turns to look at Stone, eye to eye.

"No..." Hicks finally says, as Stone feels as if her heart has been blown to pieces with 12 gauge buck shot at point-blank range, the smell of gunpowder signifying the tearing apart of her hopes and dreams.

"I think he "like" likes you..." he finishes, guessing. The twelve-gauge blasted her heart out of her chest, replacing it with butterflies and kittens, and instead of cordite, she smells powdered sugar, cinnamon and hot cocoa.

"WHAT?!" she yells back at him, grinning and wide-eyed.

"Hey, keep it down! Yeah, well, being Corporals and all, he and I talk a lot. Stupid stuff mainly, but sometimes we have deep conversations like "where do we go when we die?" or "wonder if the Loch Ness Monster is real?" - stuff like that. Anyway, he asked me the same question you just did not too long ago, and I gave him the same answer. The fact is you both clearly like each other, so I would give it a shot, before someone else does, anyway..." Hicks states, making Stone's heart beat a rapid tattoo that would make any Marine Corps drummer proud. She has suspected for some time that Christopher felt something, but this feels different, and though they both live in a crazy world filled with violence and death, she feels if any two people could make a relationship work under those conditions, it is them.

Stone cannot hold it in anymore, and she lets out a loud "party girl" yell of victory.

"Woooooooooo-hoo! I knew it! Ohhh, thank you Hicks. Thankyouthankyouthankyou!" She says, bouncing and hugging Hicks tightly as he feels taken aback by the gesture, and he pats the young marine's back in support.

"Ugh...no problem Sparks" He replies, just then a pair of hands land on each of their shoulders.

"Glad to see you two are having a good time!" a voice says, and the two Marines look up to its owner and are shocked when they see Mils standing there with a big smile on his face, ready to join the party.

In quarantine at Hadley's Hope, the laid back atmosphere of the colony has begun to crack as word of the Jordens' encounter with the parasite spreads quickly. About a dozen interns and nurses have begun to search frantically throughout the quarantine ward for what they have begun to call a facehugger, while Doctor Hollens, having arrived soon after being summoned about the acid, speaks to some security personnel about keeping guard over Quarantine for a few days or at least till the facehugger is found.

Ripley and Dillon currently record Russ's vital signs data, examining him to ensure that, while still unconscious, he remains ostensibly unharmed.

"Okay BPM is almost the same, blood pressure...125 over 85, normal..." Ripley says as Dillon jots down her answer. "Pupils...no dilation, seem normal...his flesh has gained some color back," Ripley continues as Doctor Hollens walks up behind them.

"Any changes?" he asks.

"None, Doctor," Dillon answers.

"Good. Lydecker just called. Word got out about that derelict," Hollens tries to inform them.

"Derelict?" Ripley says.

"Yes...apparently there's a derelict ship of some sort. Nobody's ever seen anything quite like it, but that means a big payday, so you can imagine any salvage team that has any brains is on their way to claim their prize," Hollens explains.

"What?!" She and Dillon look each other in the eye, each alarmed by their supervisor's words.

"Sir, if we don't warn them they could run into the same thing. Jorden's wife described a chamber with eggs, and I'm telling you, that's where that facehugger came from, one of those eggs," Ripley pointed out

"Don't worry, Ripley - from what I understand a whole security team is going with them. They encounter any trouble, they'll be there to help," Hollens answers.

"Sir, if they go in guns blazing they could do a lot more harm than good!" Ripley explains.

"Sir, just before we lost it I made an incision on one of the parasite's, erm, legs, fingers...call it what you must, and some of its blood squirted out under high pressure onto the floor. They're gonna have to tear out that whole floor and rebuild it, just from what little bit spilled out. And only a single drop got onto my colleague here," Dillon qualifies as Ripley holds up her bandaged forearm. "Doctor Hollens, the closest thing I can think of that remotely compares to this substance's reactivity with any kind of substance is carborane superacid, but this stuff is at least a _dozen times_ more potent."

"Yeah, I can vouch for that!" Ripley states.

"How bad?" Hollens asks.

Ripley starts to unwrap her bandage, and when the skin is revealed, Hollens winces at seeing nearly the entire width of her arm turned raw, red and blistering, while in the center a lesion five centimetres wide and at least two deep weeps a yellowish clear fluid. The scent of burn ointment is heavy now in the air.

"All that from one tiny droplet barely large enough to feel. I barely saw it, and if I hadn't turned my arm over before I ran it under the water, this would be a lot worse," she relates.

"It took at least twenty minutes for the pain to stop once we started flushing her wound with water, and that was a lot of water, too, Doctor Hollens," Dillon says to clarify for their supervisor just how dangerous the creature's blood is, just as Ripley begins to rewrap the bandage on her arm.

"Jesus, that's some unbelievable shit...well, I shouldn't have to remind you to replace those bandages -" Hollens starts.

"We know, we know," Dillon interrupts.

"Every two hours..." she and Ripley simultaneously finish for him.

"Good, keep me informed of any -" Hollens starts to say, when a nurse's scream interrupts him.

"Oh God...Doctor get over here!" she yells as she stares down at the unmoving form of the facehugger, all three doctors plus several security personnel rush over to where the very shaken nurse is pointing with a trembling hand.

"You alright, Nurse Chelsea? Ripley, take care of her. Dillon, check that thing out," Hollens says, reading the nameplate on her scrubs shirt. "Good job finding that thing, by the way…"

"Good job? _That fucking __abomination__dropped__ on me__!_" she shouts angrily at thinking she was going to get facehugged, as well as with the doctor thinking _she_ had found _it_.

"Doctor? It's dead...I think it is anyway - holy shit!" Dillon shouts, jumping back as the legs contract from a prod to its middle from an instrument probe she has just stuck it with.

At the same time Ripley and Hollens jump forward to move Dillon out of the way, thinking it would jump up and grab her, then they relax when it stops after a few twitches.

Dillon laughs briefly. "Hoo! Damn, that was just a reflex action. It's alright, this thing's absolutely dead."

"Let's grab it for study, Val, and don't stab it this fucking time, please?" Ripley says sarcastically, causing all around her to laugh lightly.

"Ha ha, real funny Ellie," Dillon responds as she loads the facehugger onto an examination tray and gets on her feet to carry her specimen to the table. She stops in her tracks as a groan is heard from Russ.

"Holy crow, Russ!" she says in wondrous amazement, causing all to turn their heads toward her.

"He's coming around!"

...

The party has just begun as the entirety of Bravo Team are having a crazy time. Over the course of only a few hours, several bars had run out of certain beers, a couple biker gangs had been beat up, and Hudson had to be "Emergency Evacuated" from three women's abodes, and now they have crash landed in both the pool and the collective hotel rooms that they had rented.

Mils kicks open the door to his hotel room, dragging an unconscious Hudson with help from Hicks into the two-bedded hotel room, and with a flop throws the colorful private onto the bed.

"Thanks for the assist, Hicks. _Man_, how the hell does this man get _that_ much pussy? Oh, shit..." Mils says, staggering a little as the alcoholic beverages he and Hicks have enjoyed have now caught up with them.

"One of the biggest mysteries of life. Anyway I better get going, gonna catch some shut eye. I'll see you in the morning, Stretch" Hicks says, nodding at his fellow Corporal as he exits the hotel room.

"Night Hicks," Mils says as he prepares for bed. Upon closing the door he removes his shirt, listening to the jingle of his dog tags as they rattle on the breakaway chain about his neck. In his mind he recalls the past 24 hours, busy to say the least. Meeting his Grandmother who has been missing for nearly 60 years, being the only contact between two generations of families, then having a fairly erotic dream about his best pal Stone, and then partaking in perhaps one of the craziest nights of his life. It has taken quite a toll on him, and now all he wants is just to relax and sleep.

"Well h'llo there Corp'ral Milllsss!" a feminine voice slurs from behind him, Mils turns to look at the source of the voice and his eyes widen in shock as he sees a very drunk and provocatively half-dressed Ashley Stone in the bathroom doorway.

"Sparks?...what are you doing here!"

"Ohhhhh...don't you play th'dummy w'th _me_...MISTERRRRRRRRR..uhhh." Stone says as she stumbles towards him.

"Ugh…" Mils shakes his head slowly with empathy and fatigue. "Listen, Ash, you might wanna lay down - "

"Annn ffuck?" she grins stupidly, drunkenly emphasising the word she wants to use.

"Not exactly. How 'bout we just focus on - MMPH!" Mils tries to say before Stone lunges into him lips first, wrapping her arms around him and trapping him, causing him to lose his balance and fall backwards onto the bed. She straddles his waist, pinning him down while Mils looks up at his triumphantly grinning best pal, the glimmer of drunken lust bright in her eyes.

"Ya know from up close, I can tell one thing? Your blood alcohol content is definitely above point-oh-eight," Mils says trying to make Stone back down.

"Oh no! You can't sweet-talk your way out of _this_ one...my finnne, finnne, fiiiinnnne friennnnnd..." Stone says, getting closer and closer for a potential kiss.

"Ash..."

"Chrissy..." she whispers as Mils prepares himself for the end result. Then Stone's head drops onto his chest like she has had her clock cleaned by a hammer. Mils looks down and sees that she has fallen asleep as she snores loudly.

"Well, I guess we'll just have to take a raincheck on the make-out session," Mils says as he adjusts Stone so that she's more comfortable. He lays his head down and starts to drift off to sleep, feeling pretty good about being in the same bed with the girl of his dreams...

Anne Jorden stares in shock and surprise. Only a few hours ago she had brought her comatose husband into medlab with a repulsive, monstrous thing attached to his face. Now her husband looks healthy - in fact he looks perfectly fine, like nothing has happened to him, and as she looks through the glass of the quarantine ward, she wants to hold him in her arms, to take him back to their kids.

In the chamber, Doctor Dillon examines Russ, recording his vitals, unsurprised that the salvage worker is still somewhat out of it, especially considering what he has just been through.

"Well, Russ," she remarks as she shines a penlight into his eyes, "your pupils aren't dilated, and your vitals are all good. You gave us quite the scare. How much do you remember?"

"Well, I...don't really remember anything, except maybe...smothering..." Russ explains, guessing, as Ripley walks up with her bandaged arm and her whole one thrust into a pocket in her lab coat.

"Doctor Hollens says you need to stay here in recovery for observation, but your wife can come see you for a bit.." she explains happily.

"Good...she and the kids are probably scared shitless." An intern shows Anne in, and she runs up and hugs her husband like she hasn't seen him in decades.

"Don't you ever do that to me again," she sobs gratefully.

"Okay, I promise, it won't happen again - unless there's a payday involved," he smirks, leaving Anne to step back as her jaw suddenly acquires ten tons of dead weight.

"Russ! Oh, you joker…"

"Okay I'll give it a second thought at least," he corrects himself with a ahrug. "Where are the kids?"

"Back home, they're tired...and they're scared for their daddy," Anne nods.

"Good, they can't see me like this, not yet..."

"We'll get you some food," smiles Ripley.

"Yeah and a beer...I'm star..." Russ says before he starts to cough and sputter.

"Hey! Easy..." Dillon says running up and patting him on the back, Anne does the same thing trying to help her husband as Ripley arrives with water, but Russ slaps the glass out of her hand as his coughing turns into painful groaning. In less than a minute his groaning turns into screams and convulsions.

"Oh God, what's happening?!" Anne asks, her hands flashing up to her face in horror, as blood begins to show through Russ' shirt. He yells in pain and fright as something inside his chest bulges outward, and he falls on the ground where Ripley, Anne and Dillon try to hold him down and help him any way they can. He screams one last time, his back arching, twisting wildly, spasming terribly, as blood fountains everywhere and some _thing_ tears its way out from inside his chest, a creature none of them had ever seen.

It bears little resemblance to the facehugger, other than the leathery yellow skin and the lack of visual organs. It doesn't stop it from seeing, though, as it turns its head in a slow, deliberate circle, stopping to look each of them in the eyes. Even without eyes they can tell what lurks inside the creature's heart of hearts - aside from its highly caustic blood, that is. It regards them with nothing but contempt and disgust, anticipating the time where it might tear into them bodily and feel the spray of their blood. But that would be later. Little veins pulsed rapidly on either side of its neck with the flow of its bodily fluids, just below a pair of jaws filled with chrome steel teeth. Partway down, the little stubs sprouting from its chest might resemble arms in a previous stage of development.

Its contempt for the creatures is reflected back toward it as Anne and Thomas both reach for scalpels or some other sharp implements to bury into its flesh, but each is held back by one of their companions.

"Jeeze! Dont touch it! Don't touch it!"

They all are thrown back, the people around them look in disgust and hate at the creature, and at some point it makes an unearthly combination of a grunt and a metallic shriek, after which it bounds away from the already-cooling corpse of Russ Jorden, and then it runs across the floor quicker than anyone can blink and smashes through a steel composite vent cover in one thrust, disappearing into the ductwork.

Nobody can move or speak. Nobody can breathe, or even figure out what to do. They are all completely stunned by what they have just witnessed.

Ripley looks in shock at the blood-covered room, at the tables and countertops, the trays and trolleys sprayed liberally with arterial blood, and at the blood dripping from the ceiling and the light fixtures, as Anne cries uncontrollably over her husband's corpse and Dillon tries to comfort both herself and Anne. She can't believe any of what she's seen, and she barely hears a transmission from a radio belonging to a security team member. She almost doesn't hear the report that the surveyors and security personnel sent to the derelict have come into contact with multiple parasites. But she already knows, deep in gut.

All hell has broken loose.


	4. Chapter 3: Worst Case Scenario

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

Beta'd, Chopped and Remixed by DarthTenebrus, any further mistakes are my own.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Chapter 3: Worst Case Scenario **

Hadley's Hope had been going through a remodel at the time of the Jorden's discovery. There were exposed pipes, panels and terminals lying all over the place. One couldn't walk ten meters down a corridor without seeing some reconstruction being done. With the colony on high alert now, none of that is taking place, with numerous security personnel heading this way and that, moving throughout the quarantine ward centimetre by centimetre trying to find the creature that had just burst out of Russ Jorden.

Anne had had to be moved to a secluded location, as she was beyond consolation at the moment, and her children had yet to be informed.

Beyond all that, the only thing left to do was to find and eliminate the intruding hostile organism. Operations Manager Al Simpson along with Assistant Operations Manager Lydecker were currently going over all the scenarios for containment of the creature.

"Jesus Christ, I don't care if you need the entire colony looking for it! I want all security personnel on duty _now_!" Simpson says to Lydecker, who is currently following him like a well-trained dog.

"Right. Do we need to contact Earth or Titan?"

"Yeah, if you wanna get hit with a hurricane-sized shitstorm! Look, we've got all the means to handle this - its one creature -"

"And the survey teams?" Lydecker asks.

"Recall them. The priority now is finding and getting rid of that little bastard before it gets any bigger. Once we've got this thing taken care of, we'll get them to stand down."

"That might take some time, Al, there's a hundred miles of ductwork in three levels of colony, and that thing is less than two feet long."

"Everything takes time around here, Lydecker!" Simpson exclaims in frustration. It is the first real emergency the Hadley's Hope colony has had since its inception more than twenty years ago, their first real test to see if they can outlast a major crisis. "Look," he adds, calmer now that he has vented his frustrations, "we need to inform the colony, but I don't want to start a goddamned panic, so let's come up with a good cover story. Who were those two ladies that tended to the Jorden guy before that thing erupted from his fucking chest?"

"Valerie Dillon and Elizabeth Ripley, one's actually a geologist and the other's a botanist, but they both have medical degrees that qualified them for the quarantine ward."

"I want to start a briefing in about fifteen minutes, and I want them there, Lydecker. Let's go."

Ripley and Dillon have still been dealing as best they can from the whole situation. They have given Russ Jorden an autopsy, with the "official" cause of death being a massive loss of blood from a tractor accident. His death hadn't been instantaneous, with several scream-filled moments having occurred before he finally succumbed to his wound.

His one gaping chest wound.

His body is being kept in isolation for proper study, once the proper procedures are underway. Both doctors are very visibly shaken - Dillon is smoking a cigarette, her hands still trembling as her cigarette burns away, dripping ash onto the floor, and after a minute of staring off into the Universe she remembers to take a drag. Ripley is trying to focus on the coffee in front of her at the moment, when Dillon finds her voice.

"What now, Ellie? I mean, did you - did you _see_ that thing?" Dillon asks, and Ripley looks up at her compatriot.

"The security teams will find it, and hopefully they can kill it. There's just the one little bastard -"

"Just one?!" she queries incredulously. "What about the survey teams? Huh? They said that they had been attacked by identical parasites!"

"They won't be allowed to enter the colony, they'll be stranded with those things!" Ripley tries to reassure her friend.

"Maybe not - the one that came out of Russ ran away. It could be anywhere at this point. I don't like any of this Ell - the entire _colony_ is at risk here," Val remarks anxiously.

"Are you always this dramatic Val?"

"Only when dealing with vicious little monsters that ain't supposed to exist in any of the books we've been going through!" Dillon shouts, gesticulating towards the stack of science books next to Ripley, as they have been trying fruitlessly to determine the creature's origin.

"Well I was only thinking about finding a way to kill it, but if it's anything like those facehuggers then killing it's gonna be a challenge," Ripley says as she remembers the incomprehensibly extreme acidity of the creature's blood.

"Yeah. Shit-" Dillon finishes with a start. There is a knock on the door of the office they have been secluded in, and standing in the door is Thomas.

"Dr Dillon? Dr Ripley? Simpson wants to see you now," he says. Valerie and Elizabeth both sigh, but more or less agree to go see the director of the colony.

In a large meeting room in the centre of the chaos of a still developing colony, a dozen company and colony officials sit nervously, with partially parked posteriors resting on the edge of each of the corporately produced chairs that all point towards the table where Simpson, Lydecker and Chief Security Ward silently discuss what their next plan of action should be.

Quietly, Thomas and the two doctors walk in, getting equally quiet nods from the men in front of the table. Lydecker shows them to their seats behind the large table at the front of the room, and he then turns around to the group of almost twenty people sitting and standing in front of them.

"Okay people, let's get settled. Now you're all here for a reason, but we need to keep things under wraps for now, so everything you hear in this meeting is for your ears only," Lydecker announces as he hands it over to Simpson, who steps up to give his speech.

"I'm going to keep this short, people. As many of you know, two days ago one of our salvage teams discovered a derelict ship, a nonhuman space vessel in the outer rim of the colony, out past the Ilium Range. They encountered a parasitic organism while searching the derelict, and a member of the team was exposed to it, and was subsequently infected when it attached itself to his face, and then the other members of the team brought him back to the colony. He was remanded to the quarantine ward for nearly twenty-four hours, in a comatose state, during which a pair of doctors attempted to remove the parasite. After their first try, they determined that further attempts to remove it would result in the death of their patient. Later, the parasite eventually detached itself from the patient and died. The quarantined salvage worker, a Russ Jorden, appeared to be in good condition, he showed no outward signs of infection, and then with no notice a creature of an unknown type exited his body by tearing through his chest. The trauma plus the massive blood loss as a result killed him. It wasn't quick, and there was no way to know in advance if we might have had a chance to remove and dispose of it ourselves. All we know is that, for its size, it is surprisingly strong, swift and durable. We have detailed all security personnel to hunt down and eliminate the organism, but currently it is still at large," Simpson announces causing looks of fear, shock and concern to appear on the faces of those in the room before him.

"We are doing everything, and I do mean everything short of contacting Earth, Titan, or Gateway Station to contain the situation, although we haven't yet ruled out that possibility. We've also lost contact with some of the survey teams that we sent to the derelict to investigate, likely because of the storm system we've been dealing with over the last few days," Lydecker added.

"Now I've got a few officials here who will brief you on what we're doing right now...first Chief Security Officer Ward," Simpson announces, motioning for Ward to step up to the podium.

Ward clears his throat before he speaks. "First off, I just wanna say we've been searching for the creature since its entrance into this world, and I promise you that we are going to do everything in our power and in our right to find, capture and kill this thing as efficiently and quickly as possible. I have all of my officers looking for this thing, so for the duration of the emergency we've got the colony on lockdown. That means that in terms of communications we're on emergency protocol, so no personal calls out of the colony for now. The storm's not going to make things easy anyway, but as Mr Simpson said we need to keep things under wraps for now," Ward says. "Also if you think you've found the creature, do not attempt to contain it, but please contact security immediately and we will take it from there, in every possible meaning of the phrase. Thank you." Ward says motioning back towards Simpson.

"I'll now hand off the floor to Doctors Elizabeth Ripley and Valerie Dillon, our colony's respective resident botanist and geologist, who have a firsthand account of the creature's existence," Simpson says as he waves the two young doctors over. It takes them a few moments to gather the courage to face the expecting crowd, but Ripley goes first, taking a breath before speaking.

"As far as we can tell, there are no known documents available that can explain fully what exactly the creature is or where it even comes from, which leads us to conclude that it is of a type that hasn't yet been discovered by humankind, until now of course," she explains, looking to Dillon to take it from there.

"We aren't entirely sure how aggressive it is, but we are sure that like any other animal or organism it might have an expedited growth pattern, so there's a very good chance that it has grown since it was last spotted," she adds. "That means it's had a chance to eat since it disappeared into the ventilation system. I recommend you concentrate your search around the dining facility, the kitchens, the larders, anywhere a sizeable concentration of food might be found. That includes any small pets anyone might have plus some of the smaller livestock, so if someone finds an animal that's been killed and at least partially eaten, report it to Security. If it's had a meal, then there'll be clues as to how much it might have grown. A moulted carapace, a shed skin, anything you see, you report to one of us, and we can direct you on what to look for next."

Ripley compliments her statement with one of her own. "If it is anything like the facial parasite we encountered...then it's skin is fairly tough, so most knives will not do any damage. It took an ultrasonic scalpel to make any kind of cut in it at all, and we paid the price for it. We recommend that if you find it and you opt for immediate termination on site, that you use firearms, and maintain a distance. For its size it appears to be remarkably fast and agile, as well as strong and durable - the moment after it emerged from the body of Russ Jorden, it immediately dashed toward the ventilator, and in one lunge it punched through a metal composite vent cover. Also, its blood. Do not allow it to get close for a better shot, its body fluids are incredibly corrosive, unlike anything science has seen before. The closest thing humankind has encountered or manufactured is carborane superacid. To give you a perspective," she says, "carborane superacid has a pH of -51.8," getting a few skeptical glances as well as some shocked gasps about her last statements about the creature's blood. "Yeah, well, brace yourselves. This stuff melted the emitter of my ultrasonic scalpel immediately upon contact, and it ate a gaping five-foot wide hole in the floor, all the way through to the subflooring, in less than ten seconds. I would estimate that this stuff is at least a dozen times stronger than carborane, which would give it a pH factor I don't even wanna think about. But, to put it in terms of raw numbers, let's say -52 times 12 is what, people?"

"Holy shit..." some of the more scientifically inclined among the assemblage murmured in utter disbelief.

"Hard to believe right? Yeah, a pH factor of negative six hundred and twenty-four. And that's just eyeballing it, people, and I found out the hard way. One drop did this. One tiny, almost invisible drop!" Ripley responds holding up her still bandaged up arm, this immediately gets the group's attention. Dillon continues.

"For the sake of documentation, and frankly to sound as scientific as we can, we're designating it with a scientific name," Dillon starts.

"We're calling it a Xenomorph, since it's obviously an alien creature of some sort," Ripley finishes, as she and Dillon nod at each other.

"If any of you, security or not, suffer any injuries, or encounter any - God forbid - fatalities, please come to the medical clinic immediately. Thank you," Dillon concludes. As she and Ripley step away from the lectern, some water drips from the vent above them, most likely from the heavy rain storm.

Simpson walks up at this point. "Okay, now you all know what it is, and what we're doing about it. As I said before, we're gonna kill this fucker, before it kills any more of us. Everybody got that?" Simpson asks, his eyes going hard as the people around him nod.

The water from the vent continues to drip, this time a little more heavily, making a large dripping sound onto the table.

"Lydecker get maintenance over here to find this leak and plug it so they can fix this vent," Simpson says under his breath, with Lydecker nodding as the water appears to thicken and gelatinise.

"Alright, until we get this thing taken care of, this - what did you call it again?" Simpson asks looking towards the doctors.

"A xenomorph," Ripley answers.

"Xenomorph - then we're on emergency contingency across the board..." Simpson continues, the water flowing slowly and heavily now, almost like mucus.

"The best thing we can do is not panic, and to keep everyone and the colony safe," he says, as a slight blackness moves in the vents above.

"I'll keep you informed of any changes," he continues. The blackness begins to slowly fall down toward the vent, and Ripley glances up just as the darkness arrives, revealing a jet black mass of insect like bone and flesh, everything moving in slow motion as the newly revealed xenomorph drops down in a flash towards Simpson.

"And we - AAAGH!" he screams briefly, as his words are cut off as the xenomorph grabs him and lifts him into the vent with a jolt. Simpson's painful screams fill the room with panic as he disappears through the vent. Then the blood begins dripping from it...

Ward immediately grabs Lydecker and yells one word into his face "Lockdown!", while Ripley and Dillon are both horrified at what has just happened. The security members in the room point their guns at the vent waiting for the creature to poke its head out again. As moments go by and the xenomorph has yet to attack again, a deadly reality hits the assemblage.

The xenomorph was already fully grown and has already gotten its next kill.

…

Hudson has already begun to offer his praises to the porcelain god, having gotten up just in time to do so. Mils and Stone still sleep peacefully in the same position they had assumed eight hours ago. Sleep was a highly-prized commodity, a rare thing to any group of marines, to be acquired at any cost.

His head begins to clear and the pain begins to diminish, with an expletive-filled rant filling his head as completes his worship session.

"Ahh man... what the fuck and who the fuck did I fuck last fucking night...fuck" Hudson says quietly to himself, he looks into the mirror in front of him and sees that his short hair is looking rather less than presentable, but sufficient for his purposes.

As he walks into the main room where the two beds are at, he takes notice of the two marines currently laying on top of each other, and instantly gets an idea. He finds a bucket left for cleaners in the bathroom closet and quietly fills it up with water.

Using all the Marine training he could muster, he sneaks his way over to the sleeping duo, tips the bucket over and unloads all the contents of the bucket onto them and jumps back with a flash, causing both to jump up with respective screams and gasps.

"Wakey wakey lovebirds!" Hudson yells at them with his usual smile and laugh. The pair are meanwhile focusing on breathing as they are still shocked by their respective awakening, Stone being the quicker of the two looks up in mock anger at Hudson.

"Hudson, you are _so_ fucking dead!" she yells as she launches herself off of Mils and the bed and onto Hudson's back, putting him into a form of a sleeper hold, Hudson struggles and begins to run around the room with Stone firmly in position, Mils meanwhile just sighs and gets up from the bed, trying to dry himself off with a pillow, he hears a knock on the door as Stone and Hudson crash into the wall.

"Hey you two better not break anything! Last thing I need is to explain to the Gunny why two of his Marines got arrested on destruction of private property charges!" Mils yells as he goes to answer the door, when he does he thrown off track a little when it opens to reveal his grandmother.

His young grandmother Ellen.

"Ellen..." Mils stutters.

"Did you just take a shower?" She responds with a smile.

"Uh...no. Long story, I didn't know you were already dirtside..."

"Got myself a job working the docks at St. Klingberg, the pay's decent. It's a step down from being a flight officer, but it's something."

"Ahh good," Mils nods. "So what brings you to Miami?"

"You said something about coffee."

"Ahh yeah, that's right, I did. Just give me a minute," Mils says as he closes the door. He turns around to Hudson and Stone looking attentively at him like two puppies waiting to be scolded, he turns and sees why as the TV lays transformed into a pile of debris.

"Do I even wanna know?" Mils asks, with the pair of young marines pointing at each other.

"He did it!"

"She did it!"

Mils sighs. "Just call room service tell them it short circuited or something, I've gotta go," he says. Stone immediately hops up, asking where her best friend is going.

"Where are you off to so soon?"

"I've got family in town, gonna have breakfast with them," Mils says.

"Family...but, ohh you mean your geemaw," she grins.

"Yes, Sparks. Grandma..."

"Well when you're done catching up...come meet us on the boardwalk - and don't be late," Stone says, leaning up and planting a kiss on Mils cheek, causing him to blush intensely at this show of affection from his squadmate. He quickly changes into some more casual clothing before he moves out of the hotel room, acknowledging Ellen when he does.

"Well, there's a diner around the corner. Good coffee from what I hear," Mils says as he points in the direction of the diner.

"Say no more. Lead the way, Corporal," Ellen smiles lightheartedly.

"Ugh...not that I mind, but I'm off duty," Mils says with equal humour.

"Suit yourself...Chrissy," Ellen says under her breath, smirking.

"Why me?" Mils grumbles softly, as grandmother and grandson stroll leisurely on their way to the diner exchanging small talk.

...

Six days have passed since Russ Jorden's death, five have passed since Simpson's, and now the Colony of Hadley's Hope is under an unofficial siege from within as well as from without. Disappearances have been on the rise, several members of security have been found brutally murdered by the Xenomorph, and there have been unconfirmed reports from the parameter guards of movement from where the survey teams were last seen.

In Medlab, Ripley and Dillon do all they can to help those wounded by the beast, with burned and bloodied bodies occupying nearly every bed. With body bags lining the halls of the medical wing, so far the tally marks are 14 dead, 22 wounded, 8 missing.

Chaos has slowly set in as supplies have dwindled, and looting and even raiding by some of the more desperate members of the colony have occurred in some of the more populated areas.

Many members of the managerial hierarchy of the colony have pleaded with Lydecker and Ward that maybe now is the time to ask for military or Company aid. Their requests were denied straightaway, with Lydecker trying to reassure them that they are doing all they can as a self-sufficient colony.

Things are different now - bodies have been found all over the colony. People, whole families have gone missing. To make matters worse, several colonists had been brought to Medlab with facehuggers attached to them, causing Ward to issue orders to euthanise them and any others that fell prey to them at once in order to keep the interior colony safe. Upon removal, the parasites are moved to tubes to be held in a form of stasis for observation.

Doctor Hollens had ordered the two young doctors to protect the parasite samples at all costs, as in the end they had very important use to the scientific community. Though they grumbled about it at first Ripley and Dillon reluctantly agreed, seeing how they were planning their own secret project.

Now, with a lull in the action, Dillon and Ripley discuss their next course of action as they look over a cryo-chamber.

"Okay, so the way this should work is, if we have to put the wounded into a cryochamber, they should remain in perfect stasis, and, God willing, with the extra shielding we've put on the outside, they shouldn't be detected." Ripley says as they finish prepping the last in more than a dozen modified cryo chambers should the wounded colonists need to be put into stasis themselves.

"Yeah, but it shouldn't have to come to that Rip. I just hope we have enough time to contain this mess," Dillon states.

Ripley shakes her head sadly. "That's the biggest thing we're running out of. Ward needs to contact Gateway before it's too late."

"He's talking about enacting martial law -"

"What?! We don't have any troops - how's he gonna do that?!"

"I overheard him and Lydecker talking about it," Dillon explains. "Curfews are going to be put into effect, followed by rationing. At least that's what usually comes afterwards. we need to find a way to contact the authorities, this is going to get worse before it gets better"

"Shit, I don't how we can get past the lockdown"

"Well what about your brother?" Dillon suggests, brainstorming, as a glimmer of hope creeps into her expression.

"My brother? What about him?"

"Can't you find a way to contact him?"

"Val? The lockdown, remember?"

"Shit..."

"Well maybe if we lose primary power, we'll be able to get some form of message out once the backup generators cut in, but that's _only_ if we lose power, only _then_ do we - " Ripley states before she is interrupted by a siren going off in the medical wing, the two doctors run into the main holding area where all the wounded are located, they are shocked to see groups of security guards running past the clinic through the hallways, they run into the hallway and try to get the attention of one of the guards.

"Hey, what's going on!?" Dillon asks, one of the guards stops and turns to look at them.

"We've got penetration on the perimeter, multiple dead, those things are trying to get into the colony!" he yells, running off.

"What?! That doesn't make sense! There's only the one creature in the - " Dillon protests, just before Ripley interjects.

"Val, the survey teams," Ripley reminds her. "They said they'd lost contact with the survey teams, remember?"

"Oh my God," she answers, horrified as in a moment it finally hits her. "There's more of those _things_ coming then, and if one can do _this_ much damage - " Dillon says, turning towards the patients behind her.

"Then we're gonna need a bigger clinic, more body bags. This colony's gonna be a ghost town if this keeps up!" Ripley says as she realises the situation for Hadley's Hope has just gone from bad to worse.


	5. Chapter 4: Hadley's Hopeless Situation

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY

ALIENS (THE NOVELISATION) IS OWNED BY ALAN DEAN FOSTER AND TITAN BOOKS

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

BETA'D, CHOPPED AND REMIXED BY DARTHTENEBRUS, ANY FURTHER MISTAKES ARE MY OWN.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Chapter 4: Hadley's Hopeless Situation**

On a more calm day when it wasn't raining and the normally storm-filled skies were at least something resembling overcast , the main entrance to the Hadley's Hope colony was seen as a barrier of safety, an entrance into a world where opportunity and adventure lay just around the corner. However, now it is being fortified by colonists and security officers who, through teamwork and slight desperation, have modified what materials they could find to turn the main perimeter wall into a improvised barricade, the main colony complex turning slowly but with increasing certainty into a makeshift fortress.

At the top of the wall, where one guard would have previously sit, now twenty stood armed with revolvers, shotguns, and the stray hunting rifle "confiscated" from a colonist or two who either tried to wheedle them into taking something with a bit more oomph or into letting them stand the watch themselves. It was ironic - those among the colonists who were sports and hunting enthusiasts had signed on hoping to find some interesting game to bag and hang above their mantlepieces, and upon learning the truth about LV-426, contented themselves with grumbling about having to shoot only paper targets or trap and skeet. Now with a real emergency on their hands and at least a handful of legitimate targets to take down, they have been chomping at the bit to go out there and put their marksmanship skills to good use in defending the colony, and having their weapons taken from them by security personnel in the name of the Company has caused them to grumble even more. Ward is barking orders to his crew, telling them to remain calm, as much to reassure himself as to reassure his men, especially given the fact that he was sweating out of nervousness. This combined with a lack of sleep and even some fear, from having already assigned and subsequently losing a handful of men to the Xenomorph inside the walls and ducts of Hadley's Hope, is not doing his state of mind any favours.

He also knows about the lost survey teams - at last glance there had been seventeen surveyors who tried to scavenge what the Jordens had stumbled upon. Being a former police officer back on Earth, seeing the worst of humanity on a 9 to 5 basis had developed a rather negative and dim view on things. He had seen Hadley's Hope as a new beginning, a way to get away from being a lowly beat cop and to become head of Weyland-Yutani security on a new and developing colony.

Now he fights not only for his survival but the survival of a colony of a few hundred people, all depending on him and his crew to slaughter the demons that could be coming towards their gates.

_Hannibal ad portus_, he thinks, smiling humourlessly.

As he walks up to the top half of the wall which overlooks the unknown darkness of LV-426, his newest recruit, a young man by the name of Shepard, walks up to him saluting with an anxious and shaky posture.

"Chief..." he says, his voice cracking.

"Shepard..." Ward says returning the salute.

"We've secured the main entrance, and welding teams are barricading the entrance doors, they should be done soon."

"Good. Be ready - night's falling," Ward says as he looks at his digital watch. They all know Acheron is tiny, with only a rotation of two hours, so night would last maybe an hour, but with they way these creatures, these xenomorphs, as doctors Ripley and Dillon named them, supposedly grew, an hour of nighttime would be practically an eternity.

"Ammo?" he asks, not taking his eyes off the horizon.

"We're good on autos, but shotgun shells are running low, we might have to ration them out," Shepard says.

"Well, let's hope we run out of targets before we run out of ammo," Ward says with a slight sense of humor.

"Sir?" Shepard asks, feeling sonewhat alarmed at the possibility that their enemy might actually be so numerous.

"Oh, nothing. Um, very good Shepard, report to your position" Ward amends and then commands him.

"Yes sir!" Shepard says as he turns and begins to walk away, he stops though and makes a hesitant statement.

"Sir...I'm scared," he states nervously, as Ward walks to him and turns him around to face him, with his hand on the young man's shoulder.

"Then you're human. We're all scared, son, but we choose to acknowledge it and put it aside so we can do our jobs. Just don't try being a hero, watch your buddy's back and he or she will watch yours, and you'll make it out of this. We all will," Ward says with confidence. "Understood?"

"Yes sir!" Shepard says with renewed confidence.

Ward then looks towards the darkness in front of him, using a pair of binoculars to see, several miles away, the few improvised lights set up along the path towards the entrance in case a survey team needed help getting back. The guide lights looked like flares in a night sky. Ward slowly zoomed his binoculars out to view the landscape, keeping his trained eyes on any sign of movement. Just as he turns his back one of his snipers armed with a borderline antique of a hunting rifle spots something moving towards one of the light posts.

"Fuck me…" he whispers. "Chief, movement!" he says, getting everyone's attention, prompting the twenty or so security team members to rack their shotguns and click the safeties off on their small arms. Ward looks out with his binoculars towards the suspected light post.

"Clarkson! Don't wait for me to give the order! You get an angle, you fucking take it!" Ward yells over at the sniper.

"Yes...Yes sir!" Clarkson says, a little reluctantly. Initially there isn't anything to report, thinking that maybe Clarkson may have literally jumped the gun, and some of the guards relax and lower their weapons, and then the black and unique shape of a lone xenomorph moves slowly towards the light, looking up towards it, hissing all the while.

"Holy shit….Clarkson, shoot! Clarkson!?" Ward yells.

Clarkson is finally snapped out of his trance, and pulls the trigger on his rifle. The shot bounces off the light, destroying the bulb in the process, and the xenomorph runs off back towards the darkness whence it came. The team breaths a sigh of reluctant relief.

"Shit, if _that's_ all it takes to keep those fuckers at bay, we just need some firecrackers" one guard murmurs in disappointment.

"Sorry, Chief. I froze," Clarkson says, embarrassed.

"Relax Clarkson. You scared it off," Shepard says patting his friend on the back. Ward however is not as easily pleased, and soon a thought enters into his head.

"It wasn't going for the light. It was screening us..." Ward says under his breath, as he quickly raises the binos again, and he looks with horror as more than a dozen xenomorphs begin to move towards the wall.

"All guns up! Targets approaching!" Ward orders as his men prepare their weapons. "Molotov's at the ready!" Ward orders as several of his men prepare to light several old reliable alcohol- and oil-rag fueled makeshift incendiary bombs.

"Wait for it!" Ward yells as the xenomorphs get closer and closer.

"Snipers open fire," Ward orders as his few snipers fire timed shots into the horde. The rounds impact on the creatures' carapaces with only limited success, enticing the xenomorphs as they arrive at the gates.

"Molotovs! Now!" Ward orders, and nearly a dozen cocktails of flame fall towards the horde. They impact the ground and form a wall of fire, catching some xenomorphs in the splash radius and engulfing two of them in flames. The remaining fall back to a safe distance.

"Open fire on the others!" Ward yells as the two xenomorphs are cut down by small arms fire.

"Hold your fire, conserve your ammo!" Ward orders, the fire continues to burn with the xenomorphs hissing at the flames.

"Be ready, guys, that fire won't hold them forever!" Ward shouts, and the men reload their guns as they prepare for the next wave, which comes sooner than later as the xenomorphs do something completely unpredicted. Getting a head start, they make a mad dash towards the entrance, leaping over their comrades with total disregard as they vault onto the walls of the barricade.

"Ahh shit!" Shepard says, snapping into a firing position in a panic. "These things are damned fast!"

"Fuck! Open up on 'em! Short, controlled bursts... short, controlled bursts if you have an auto!" Ward says as he and his men pour panicked gunshots onto the climbing xenomorphs, and though they do succeed in knocking at least half of them off the wall to their presumed deaths, their frantic shooting doesn't allow them to reload their weapons in an effective manner, allowing what is left of the xenomorphs to climb over the railing. In a panic some of the security team open fire at close range with their shotguns, and though they succeed at killing the beasts, they fail immensely as their bodies are splashed with the acidic blood of the creatures, neutralising and killing them to open huge holes in the colony's defences. Their dying screams reach Ward's ears as their flesh and makeshift armour rapidly, painfully dissolves, and inwardly Ward curses himself that he can do nothing but forget them.

"Fall back! Get the IEDs ready, Shepard!" Ward says over the chaos as one by one his men fall, killed or seized by the xenomorphs as the remaining security teams fall back to the interior of the colony's walls.

"IEDs now!" Ward yells as Shepard and several other guards place their improvised explosive devices, towards the few xenomorphs with several being killed by the explosions. However a lone IED doesn't go off, the furthest from the outer perimeter, and Shepard runs out to activate it, not worrying about his life or limb at that point.

"Shepard! Get back here now, God damn it!" Ward yells over the chaos, Shepard grabs the detonator, trying to activate it, but at the last moment he detects movement in the corner of his eye. He spins toward the apparition, which reveals itself as a xenomorph trying to kill him, and Ward unloads on it with his shotgun. Some of the acid blood from the xenomorph spurts out and wounds Shepard in the leg, causing him to yell out in pain and drop down to his knees.

"Shepard!" Ward yells as he begins to run towards the young man, Shepard looks around him and sees two Xenomorphs approaching from behind. He knows he is dead as his leg goes numb from a tail thrust, and he hold the explosive close to his body and presses the igniter button. he looks towards Ward one last time with a faint smile before the IED explodes killing him and the two xenomorphs. The blast knocks Ward back, dazing him, and his remaining men grab him and drag him into the control building into the departures building of the colony.

As he regains his focus, he looks at the men around him all waiting for an answer or order

"Alright," he groans in pain, "no time to mourn the dead. I want a security lock placed on all entrances and exits into the colony, all buildings will remain on lockdown till I say otherwise," Ward says as he stands up and limps towards the command center of the colony, now with a new plan in mind.

Acting Manager Lydecker had never expected Hadley's Hope to produce anything more than the occasional headaches that came with colonizing a new world, but this was different. The death toll and the names of the missing have increased exponentially, and from what he's heard from nearby radios, the security teams had failed to hold those xenomorphs on the perimeter at bay.

He now was listening to a convoluted plan from Doctors Ripley and Dillon.

"So go over it again. You want to freeze the wounded till we're rescued?"

"_When_ we're rescued, Lydecker," Doctor Hollens points out.

"Right, _when_ we're rescued," Lydecker almost mockingly retorts.

"Look Lydecker, I know the situation looks grim, but these two, these two have a solution, a-a solution that will help us save lives, the least you can do is treat them with the same respect you treat me!" Hollens says, nodding at his two young colleagues to continue.

"As we were saying, sir, if we move the wounded or even some of the civilians into our modified pods, we think the pods will seal themselves hermetically, and they'll remain undetected by the xenomorphs we're dealing with right now," Ripley states.

"We type up a file for the rescue team to find, with instructions on how to revive us, then we send out a general distress call, seal ourselves in, and we wait for the rescue team to arrive," Dillon completes the proposal, looking to her partner for approval and getting a nod.

Lydecker shakes his head a little before reluctantly agreeing to the plan. "Alright, you've got a deal, move any wounded from now on into the chambers, and once you're done get them ready for any children whose parents are gone," Lydecker says, expressing just how grim their situation is.

"Thank you, sir" Dillon says, just then Ward limps in still covered in grime and blood from his most recent encounter with the xenomorphs.

"Ward? What the hell happened out there?!" Lydecker says immediately yelling at the Chief

"Oh God, that's a nasty cut. Here!" Ripley says, trying to help a man who looks like he's just gone twelve rounds with the Devil himself.

"I'm fine , doc, but what happened out there is what's gonna happen in here if we don't act quick," Ward says, with perhaps the most serious tone of voice he could muster.

"What do you mean, Ward?" Lydecker asks

"I have maybe a dozen or so guards left, and maybe what? Less than a hundred colonists to protect...a good portion of them being children? The time is now... I'm going to lift the communication lockdown..." Ward announces

"What?! Why now?!" Lydecker asks

"Because if I don't run out of men, I'm going to run out of ammo, and those things make it inside to help the one already here, then guess what? That's the ballgame..." Ward explains, as the doctors and Lydecker realize the grimness of the situation.

"Why didn't you do that from the start?" Lydecker asks clearly panicking

"The three of us thought we could handle it, remember what Simpson said "the colony comes first!"...and I was under orders, and so were you!" Ward yells

"But what about the Colony's reputation if we lose that? We'll - " Lydecker says before being interrupted by Ward.

"We'll rebuild. We'll survive, but the only way that happens is if we contact Gateway. At least give me some time to get a Code Black message out!"

"Good God man! A code black... that'll just bring more lambs to the slaughter!" Lydecker argues.

"Then Gateway will have to do!" Ward finishes heading towards the main communication terminal, Lydecker suddenly grabs a gun from behind his back pointing it at Ward, who is taken by surprise slightly.

"Brad! Don't be stupid!" Doctor Hollens yells using Lydecker's first name to try to get his attention, as Ripley and Dillon look on with horror.

"If you're gonna point it at me, aim for the fucking head cause I don't give a shit anymore!" Ward yells rage showing in his eyes at the selfish actions of his cohort, he gets closer to Lydecker to the point that the gun is practically pressed up against him, luckily just as it appears all hope is lost for a peaceful outcome, Doctor Hollens sneaks up and grabs Lydecker from behind, Ward tries to get the gun away from the man, when he succeeds he hits Lydecker with a strong right cross knocking him out cold.

"Sorry Brad, I've got to do this. Doctors, put him in a pod. I can't risk him losing it again," Ward orders as he moves to the communications terminal, he types his password into the terminal, lifting the lockdown briefly for him to prepare an emergency message. However, screams from down the hall interrupt him.

"Contact!" a security guard yells as Hollens grabs Lydecker's gun, prepping himself as the screams of the guard are heard.

"Oh God..." Ripley says under her breath as Ward and Hollens move towards the noise, Ward looks at Ripley.

"Ripley...prepare the message, tell them we need immediate military aid. Here's the confirmation code..." Ward says handing her a piece of paper with a string of letters and numbers on it. His reluctance to hand over classified materiel struggling with the number of options having dwindled down to nothing is understandable, just as much as the realisation that this might be his first and last act as Hadley's Hope's newest administrator.

"Right..." Ripley says with empathy as she moves towards the terminal to record a message, while Ward and Hollens head down the hallway.

Ripley decides to send a audio message to compliment the encoded one.

…..

"This is Doctor Ellizabeth Ripley...I'm a member of the Hadley's Hope colony on the planet Acheron, common designation LV-426. We have encountered a highly aggressive alien species, we request immediate military aid. Emergency code is NVR-223-43B. We have suffered heavy casualties and are currently under attack by this species. I say again, we need immediate military aid on LV-426!" Ripley yells into the recorder, she presses a few quick commands into the console, and within a few short moments the message is transmitted to all nearby stations, as well as Gateway back on Earth. Elizabeth steps back from the console and looks towards Dillon.

"It's done...the message's been sent" Ripley says.

Gunshots are heard then from around the corner, and moments later Ward comes walking in holding a limp Hollens in his arms.

"Oh my God, what the hell happened?!" Dillon yells as both she and Ripley run towards the pair. Hollens, gasping with effort, turns toward the medical pods, and they can see he has burns all over the right side of his body.

"You need to go... now..." Ward says grabbing the pistol Hollens was using, taking the magazine out checking for ammo.

"What about you?!" Ripley asks as Ward hands her Hollens' weapon and hands Hollens off to Dillon.

"We're running out of time, Ripley! You and Dillon need to get out of here!" Ward says loading his shotgun.

"Ellie?" Dillon asks, Ripley looks towards Dillon who holds an unconscious Hollens, Dillon looks grimly up at her friend.

"Doctor Hollens...he's...he's dead..." Dillon says, very shaken by the passing of her colleague, whose corpse now resembles Harvey Dent in some regards.

"Damnit..." Ward says as Ripley, holds her head in her hands, trying to think of a possible solution to their problems. Ward meanwhile sees a shadow approaching.

"We need to move!" Ward yells as he sees several Xenomorphs approaching from down the hall slowly, he readies his shotgun. Dillon meanwhile sees on the security camera feed a group of Xenomorphs heading right for them from the outside.

"They're coming Ellie...they're coming this way!"

"It's okay Val...the shutters should keep them out!" Ripley yells back trying to steady her shaky hands as she hold the pistol.

"What about the sunroof?!" Dillon says with horror filled eyes as she sees that the sunroof has "conveniently" been left unshuttered, both Ward and Ripley look up with similar glares.

Just then three Xenomorphs crash through the sunroof and land near Dillon, who also is near a welding kit, with a gas tank. One of the Xenomorphs moves to grab Dillon, while Ward opens fire on another nearby, Ripley herself raises her gun to shoot he nearest one. She carefully lines up a shot, she fires at the beast wounding it as acidic blood leaks from the creature and onto the welding kit's gas tank, as the acid eats away at the tank's hull it sparks the contents and large explosion occurs engulfing both the nearby Xenomorphs, but also Dillon in the process, Ripley and Ward are knocked down by the blast.

Ripley slowly regains consciousness, trying to get a little bit of a grasp on what was occurring around her. Her first thoughts drifted to her best friend...a stray gasp exits her lips as she looks in absolute horror as her friend Valerie Dillon lays in a pool of her own blood. Ward slowly rises to his feet as Ripley runs over to her friends side, Dillon slowly regains consciousness barely able to focus on her friend in front of her.

"Val?!….Val look at me it's okay...you're okay...you're going to be okay...you're going to be okay! Val! Look at me!" Ripley pleads to her friend, who looks like is going into shock, Dillon unconsciously hands Ripley something...a keycard?

"What are you doing?" Ripley asks

"Chambers...get to the chambers...it's... the only way..." Dillon groqns as her eyes roll back into her head, the last of her breath leaving her as her body goes limp.

"No...no, no, no, no," Ripley moans quietly to herself, unable to take her eyes off of her friend as Ward walks up to her, holding his sore shoulder.

"Ripley...we need to - "

"She's not dead..._don't fucking say it!_" Ripley yells looking back at Ward with tear filled eyes, she shakes her head, silently weeping at Dillon's sacrifice.

"Ripley? We need to go now. Don't let her death be for nothing," Ward stresses, as Ripley closes Dillon's eyes and stands up, looking forlornly at the keycard in her hand. She takes a long breath, and when she lets in out, in the next instant she puts steel in her spine.

"She said...the modified chambers in Medical. We'll hold out there till help arrives."

"Best thing I've heard all week, but we need to hurry!" Ward says grabbing Ripley by the arm and leading her back into the main corridor. Leaving Medlab, he uses his link to the public address to send a message to his remaining security staff.

"All Hadley's Hope security personnel, move to Medlab at this time. If you encounter any civilians take them with you if at all possible. Say again, all security personnel break off whatever you're doing and report to Medlab with all possible haste! Do it now! Get to Medlab now, people!" Ward yells as a winded Ripley leads him en route.

Ripley enters her security password into a keypad and the door opens, revealing dozens of modified cryogenic chambers, some of which she knows already contain wounded colonists. She gives each a brief glance before she walks up to the main control terminal and places Dillon's bloodstained card into a matching slot, initialising the cryogenic process for the empty chambers.

Ward looks around as the cryotubes disinfect themselves automatically, silently making a decision as Ripley opens up the nearest chamber, putting the finishing touches on it.

"So you think this'll work?" Ward asks.

"We figured that maybe the Xenomorphs vision is based on sensory triggers, like heat, sound and smell," she answers. "This chamber reduces all those threats by slowing down nearly all metabolic processes. It builds a layer of oxygen, too, which causes a layer of ice to form, further preventing the occupant's heat from showing up, it's sound proof, and triple-sealed so no smells or odors will escape. Basically, it's almost vacuum-proof. The only complication is we have no idea how the xenomorphs sense their prey. It's not much, but it's worth a try."

Ripley turns around as she finishes a few adjustments, only to see Ward standing less than a foot away behind her, causing her to jump halfway out of her skin.

"Jesus, Odin and Buddha! I thought you were a xenom-" Ripley says, but Ward pushes her into the open chamber, and before she can think he quickly closes it on her, pressing a few buttons on the console nearby to lock the cylinder and begin the cryogenic process.

"Ward! Ward, what are you doing?! Ward! Don't do this! Let me out!" Ripley yells, pounding her fists against the glass. She ceases her struggle as she remembers how effective the seals are. Anything made to withstand the forces of deep space naturally wouldn't yield to something so weak as flesh and bone. Ward walks back towards her chamber, placing his hand on the glass that's beginning to fog up, and watching Ripley slowly beginning to drift off as the sleeping gas begins to take effect.

"I'm sorry kid...I can't let anyone else die on my watch," Ward says as he groggily grabs his weapon and heads back into the chaos of the colony, closing the door to Medical on his way out. He looks back one last time at the young doctor whose chamber is now completely activated...

…

Hope you all like the story so far, we'll head back to Earth in next chapter, and we'll see just how Ellen and Christopher are doing!

Until then, please favorite, follow and review! I appreciate it.

P.S. if anyone knows anyone who'd be willing to do fanart please PM me 😊


	6. Chapter 5: Message from a Distant World

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY

ALIENS (NOVELISATION) IS OWNED BY ALAN DEAN FOSTER AND TITAN BOOKS

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

BETA'D, CHOPPED AND SCREWED BY DARTHTENEBRUS, ANY FURTHER MISTAKES ARE MY OWN.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Chapter 5: A Message from a Distant World**

Ellen Ripley sips on a rather good and hot cup of coffee, looking at her grandson.

Her grandson, if appearance was any judge, who is but a few years younger than her. She had to admit, she wasn't planning on being a grandma till she was old and gray, but with her daughter gone, she feels as if the closest thing she has now is the young man in front of her devouring a mountain of bacon, eggs, and hash browns and chugging a gallon of orange juice and another of black coffee.

"You plan on chewing your food?" Ripley laughs as she slowly takes a bite of the omelet in front of her, causing the young Colonial Marine to swallow his food with an embarrassed, yet prideful reflex.

"Sorry," he responds, not really looking sorry, "but when you've been eating some of the worst food possible for the past few months, this is like a feast," Mils says as he points his fork down at his food.

"I can understand that. Christopher, last time we talked, you mentioned a place called Sevastopol Station, right?" Ripley asks.

Mils immediately places his fork down, the expression on his face now evincing a touch of sadness. "Yeah, Mom and Dad never really talked about it much. It was where they met, Sevastopol was, but something happened there, something they refused to forget. I don't think they had PTSD or anything like that, but they definitely came across something."

"And they never said what it was?"

"They'd change the subject - _fast_."

Ellen shakes her head. "If only we had been found sooner..."

"You can't control things like that Ellen - uh, grandma - it's just...timing, ya know?" Mils says, taking a sip of his coffee.

"It's okay, Ellen's fine. I think I also remember asking about your scar?" Ripley replies motioning towards Mils' scar above his left eye.

"Oh this?" Mils points and grins. "Well it's kind of a funny story. So we had gotten some shore leave almost immediately after I was promoted to corporal. Those of us who survived the last op needed it more than anything, seeing as how a lot of the people we'd lost we'd been through boot camp together. Well, anyway, so we're at a bar, and we're just minding our own business, drinking. To excess? Probably. So me and Ash are just minding our own business, when this one newly-minted Lieutenant walks up and grabs her arm asking her to dance, and we could tell right away that this guy's a friggin cherry, cause he was using a corny pickup line, or two or three for that matter. He was drunk, Ash was drunk and I was tipsy, she kept saying no, and then he tightened his grip on her arm, thinking he was going to make her dance with him. Of course I said "fuck that" - pardon the language - and I shoved him off, he retaliated with a good right cross, his officer's ring cut me right above my eye, and blood started to drip down into it, so the adrenaline was pumping and I had to defend myself so I hit him in his nose with a headbutt. He went down for the count and my head was slightly concussed. They took me to see the corpsman and they were able to stop the bleeding, but the scar stayed," Mils finishes.

"Ash?" Ripley asks.

"Uh yeah...a squad mate of mine, a lot of us call her Sparks because she's always so excited about something. I call her Ash most of the time, or PFC Ashley Stone if you wanna be official about it," Mils explains.

"That's the voice I heard from your hotel room?"

"Yeah, she snuck into my room last night."

"Uh-oh." Ellen begins to grin at the idea of two Marines, one male and the other female, in the same room together.

"Nothing happened," her grandson swears.

"Mm-hm," Ripley nods holding her coffee cup, grinning wider at Mils's nervousness.

"Nothing happened, I swear! No really!" Mils says, almost pleading with his grandmother.

"Relax, Christopher," Ripley laughs.

"I mean I like her, but...I don't know if she likes me."

"Well you won't know if you don't ask, will you?"

"True, I guess I'll have to find out sooner than later," Mils grouses.

"I said relax," his grandmother insists. "If you're anything like your grandfather, you'll be just fine."

Just then a Colonial Marine Lieutenant in full dress uniform walks in, scanning the diner like a hostile horizon. His eyes scan all the occupants of the booths, and as soon as his eyes land on the back of Mils' head, Ripley looks up from her coffee and takes her measure of the Marine officer.

"Friend of yours?" Ripley says nodding at the officer. Mils raises an eyebrow and then looks over his shoulder at the man who approaches the pair at their booth.

"Corporal Mils, I presume?" The officer asks.

"Yes sir, though I'm off duty at the moment."

"Noted, Corporal. First Lieutenant Gorman, recently transferred to your team." Gorman states matter-of-factly as he takes his Marine officer cap off, placing it under his arm.

"Did something happen to Gunnery Sergeant Apone, sir?"

"You've been in need of a commander for some months now, so I've been assigned to your team," Gorman states brusquely.

"With all due respect, sir, is it really necessary for you to tell me all this now? The squad still has five days of shore leave left."

Gorman shakes his head. "That's not why I'm here, Corporal. it's a family matter, and it is sensitive."

"Ahh come on, another one?" Mils says to himself.

Gorman's tone brooks no argument. "I think it would be best if we discussed this in private, Corporal Mils."

"Can't it wait, sir?"

"Corporal," Gorman replied icily, "you may be on shore leave, but your ass belongs to me in five days, got it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Come see me when you're ready. I'm outside with transport waiting, so make it quick," Gorman says, placing his cap back on before turning to leave with a nod to Ripley. A half smile forms on Mils's face as he sighs resignedly.

"Sorry, Ellen, but duty calls."

"It's alright, Christopher. I'm an old shiphand myself, I know how it is. Whether it's the Corps or the gold, you go where you're told," Ellen smiles.

"Never pegged you for a poet."

"Anyone can come up with the occasional rhyme once in a while. I never considered myself especially gifted in that regard."

"Yeah, well, where'd you say your apartment was?"

"I didn't. But I'll write it down for you. Here..." Ripley says as she jots down the address on a napkin, handing it over to Mils who places the money for the breakfast down on the table. His hand stays on the table surface for a moment as he considers saying goodbye to a relative he has only known a few days.

"I'll stay in touch, Ellen. Hopefully I'll be able to say goodbye before we ship out," Mils says as he places his other hand on his grandmother's, squeezing it lightly.

"Sounds good. Take care and go do your duty, Christopher," Ripley says as she reluctantly watches her grandson walk towards the Marine transport.

The transport containing Mils and Lieutenant Gorman arrives quickly and efficiently at Camp Lejeune, and Gorman silently escorts the young corporal towards an office belonging to battalion staff. Inside, Mils can see that the staff conference room, a small warehouse of a room, has been appropriated by Major Brian Mayson, who he recognises as the commander of the Colonial Marines Colonial Affairs Battalion. With him are Carter Burke, the local Weyland-Yutani Rep, and Gunnery Sergeant Apone, off duty like Mils but always wearing his official Colonial Marine Corps cover.

Gorman walks in first, showing Mils to a chair, and then Mils follws him to the chair, remaining at attention in deference to Major Mayson, his hand immediately snapping to Present Arms.

"At ease Corporal," Mayson orders, returning Mils's salute while Apone lights a cigar, "you know USCMC regs say Marine officers are always on duty, but they don't require off-duty Marines to salute us."

"Sir, they also doesn't prohibit it," Mils says with a smirk.

"Good man, Corporal. At ease and take your seat," Mayson says, smirking slightly in approval of Mils's adherence to decorum.

"I'm sure you're wondering why we called you here, Corporal" Mayson continues as Mils sits and takes a mental note of both Apone and Burke's presence as they each sit at their respective chairs around the table.

"It had crossed my mind, sir."

"Well there is a reason we sent for you specifically, Mils. Gunnery Sergeant? Do you have to smoke that here?" Mayson asks, turning to Apone. He doesn't yell. Officers never yell inside buildings, but they don't have to. That's what staff NCOs are for, Mils remembers.

"Sorry sir. I thought I was under the air vent," Apone says, immediately extinguishing his cigar and remembering not to smile.

"The reason we sent for you is quite serious, Corporal. We sent for your commanding officer, or in this case your senior NCO," Mayson says.

"Did something happen to someone on the squad, sir?"

"No, Corporal, last I checked Gunnery Sergeant Apone made sure they were all behaving themselves. This is a different matter, though, one that pertains especially to you. There is a developing situation on a Weyland-Yutani colony on the outer rim - that's why Mr. Burke is here. I understand you know each other?" Mayson says as both Burke and Mils nod at each other.

"We've met," Burke replies.

"Good. I'll let him explain exactly what's occurred," Mayson says, as Burke leans forward.

"Ah yes...Corporal, from what we can tell something catastrophic has happened on a newly colonized world," Burke starts as Mils eyes begin to widen and he leans forward in his chair.

"The planetoid is designated LV-426. The colonists call it Acheron, and their settlement is Hadley's Hope," Burke finishes, as Mils immediately becomes more attentive as he recognizes the name of his sister's colony.

"Oh God. Ellie. What happened?"

"I'm sorry to tell you, but we simply don't know. We lost all contact with them a few days ago, which isn't rare with the weather patterns on planets in the midst of the terraforming process. However the silence was broken when Gateway station received a message from Hadley's Hope..." Burke says, placing a tape recorder on the Major's desk, he then presses play on it and a eerie message plays to the room.

"This is Doctor Elizabeth Ripley...I'm an exobotanist at the Hadley's Hope colony on the planet Acheron, common designation LV-426, declaring a Code Black emergency. We have encountered a highly aggressive alien species, we request immediate military aid. Emergency code is NVR-223-43B. We have suffered heavy casualties and are currently under attack by this species. I say again, we need immediate military aid on LV-426!" The message ends with static, and Mils lays his hands on the tape recorder.

"Ellie..."

Burke empathises, "Corporal, we're sorry to spring this on you so fast, but we just felt it appropriate to contact you first - "

"When do we deploy?" Mils asks simply.

"Corporal?" Burke asks as both Apone and Mayson smirk with slight pride at the Marine's answer.

"Sir," Mils asks the Major, "when do we deploy? They're asking for military support - I want to be with whatever and whoever responds with any aid."

"Corporal, we're just putting the pieces of this puzzle together, and we don't know what we're up against. Ironically, though your unit's won the distance lottery, you'll be leaving in a few days as most of our Marines are out putting down the insurrectionists in New Wembley - that's why we have Gunnery Sergeant Apone here as well.

"Additionally, your squad is getting a new commanding officer, First Lieutenant Gorman," The Major states as Lieutenant Gorman sits straighter, presumably at attention. "He's recently promoted from the 6th Colonial Marine Division. He might be new, fresh out of Annapolis, but he's already seen some action, plus the chance for him in his new command to save a colony from some highly aggressive species was too much for us to ignore. I think he'll be a good addition to the team and a fine officer. So follow his orders to the letter, you two. No talking back...that means you, Gunnery Sergeant!" Mayson orders.

"Yes sir," Apone smiles, munching on his extinguished cigar, "we'll make him a part of our little dysfunctional family."

"As for you, Corporal Mils?" Mayson adds, "I need you to keep a level head. I know you have a personal stake in this matter, but I need you to remain calm, cool and collected - in other words, stay frosty."

"I'll do my best, sir," says Mils.

"That's all for now," Mayson concludes, "Lieutenant Gorman and Mr Burke, I believe you have another matter to attend to, so get to it. The _Sulaco_ ships out for LV-426 at 0600 tomorrow, and I expect you all to be aboard and in cryo by that time. Dismissed."

The assembled party stand to attention, and at a nod from the major, they step back and away from their chairs. Apone and Mils exit the room briskly with grim faces, now tasked with telling their platoon that shore leave was officially cancelled.

Ellen Ripley had just woken up from the fourth nightmare in a row and after several attempts tonight to get a decent night's sleep, she is now resigned to the fact that sleep would have to come another night. She sips on a cup of black coffee as she keeps thinking back to what had happened on the _Nostromo_ plus what had occurred in the last 57 years. A few wars, a presidential assassination or two, the unification of whole continents under a single government - in other words, under the Company. It was a lot to process, but perhaps the most devastating thing is the loss of her one and only child to the sands of time, and her only friend on the _Nostromo_ was in a comatose state. Though she never did admit it on the _Nostromo_, she has a soft spot for Chief Tactical Officer Mils, and they were the only members of the crew who had spoken to each other on a first name basis, a rare thing in their line of work.

The fact of the matter was Ripley wouldn't deny that she had found Andrew Mils attractive. He wasn't drop dead gorgeous, but for a crewman on a cargo hauler he wasn't bad looking. She had never had a chance to really ask any serious questions, as Lambert was always chomping at the bit to try to corner and seduce Mils, which he strategically defended himself against by citing some law or regulation against fraternising with crew members.

Ripley also now found herself in an odd and unique position, that of a grandmother in her early thirties with grandchildren in their late twenties, something no woman would expect or even aspire to. It made her head spin.

Ah, the miracle of cryogenic suspension.

A knock on the door interrupts her ruminations. She gets up to answer it and is surprised and annoyed to see the face of Carter Burke and the same Marine who had interrupted her and Christopher's breakfast.

"Hiya Ripley. This is Lieutenant Gorman of the Colonial Marine Corps - " She slams the door on him in mid-sentence and starts to walk away when he almost shouts. It is loud enough for her to hear him through the door.

"Ripley, we have to talk. We've lost contact with the colony on LV-246."

Against her better judgment, Ellen opens the door and looks at each of them before asking, "When?"

"A few days ago. We should talk about this in private, may we come in?" Burke says, she nods quietly and steps aside, allowing them entrance.

Mils and Apone are on a mission as they walk smartly to the hotel that their squad had taken refuge in. In two separate ways, they are both focussed on the coming mission.

"So what do we tell them?" Mils asks.

"We tell them your smoking hot virgin of a sister needs rescuing, and you'll be eternally grateful to the chicks, while your sister can have the dicks of the squad," Apone says with a deadpan expeession.

"Gunny, seriously?" Mils retorts wide-eyed.

"Listen, Stretch - when you've been in the glorious service of the Corps for as long as I have, you learn to deliver some shitty news in the most badass of ways," Apone says as he munches on his cigar a little more. As they walk they both notice Corporal Hicks outside the hotel, smoking a cigarette despite being totally asleep, with a beer next to him on a nightstand, his feet kicked up and his head laid back in total peace, a peace that his friend Mils and superior Apone just couldn't overlook or ignore.

Apone pulls his cigar out of his mouth and prods the young Corporal in the thigh. Hicks looks up and takes a glance at Apone.

"Gunny?" Hicks asks.

"Hicks? What did I tell ya about sleeping, Corporal?"

"That eventually I'm gonna think that my dreams are real, sir?"

"You're gonna prefer to stay asleep, son," Apone growls as he smacks Hicks lightly on the head.

"Come on, Sleeping Beauty, we've got news for the whole gang," They march into the hotel bar where the rest of the squad is wreaking all sorts of havoc. Hicks then stops an uncharacteristically quiet Mils, placing a cautious hand on Mils's right arm as they remain out of earshot.

"You good?" Hicks queries after his friend.

"Not really, Hicks - they've lost contact with my sister's colony, Hadley's Hope," Mils whispers.

"Shit, Stretch, sorry about that. You going there, I'm guessing? Why, we have time?"

"_We're_ going there Hicks. Battalion pulled the squad out of shore leave early, and that's not the worst part," Mils says as Hicks curses to himself, lighting a cigarette in frustration.

"And the good news?" Hicks asks with sarcasm. Mils looks back at his friend with a slight smirk showing.

"We're getting a new lieutenant," Mils says as he and Hicks move towards where Apone has just finished briefing the squad who are less then happy, with Vasquez cursing at the thought of having to cancel shore leave.

"¿Tienes que estar bromeando, jefe?" She yells at Apone who just waits for the squad to finish venting (I apologize for the poor Spanish).

"Come on Top I haven't gotten a single hickey on this neck of mine, and poor Spunkmeyer got dumped by a stripper last night at the buffet!" Hudson argues, which causes the platoon to glance and chuckle at Spunkmeyer.

"She was a slut anyway..." Ferro grouses under her breath, as Frost laughs under his.

"I said shut it!" Apone yells loudly as the marines quiet down, with the two corporals stepping into the bar.

"Last I checked you dumbasses signed a contract when you volunteered, and that contract says, and I quote, "Your ass belongs to the Corps, first and final." You understand me boys and girls? Chances are that this is nothing more than a bug hunt, a ghost hunt with a bunch of bountiful and beautiful colonists needing some saving! You feel me?" Apone explains. He grumbles when the Marines are slow to respond.

"I SAID DO YOU FEEL ME, MARINES?!" Apone asks louder, shouting like a kill hat.

"SIR YES SIR!"

"Goddamn Beautiful! Now we ship out tomorrow at 0600, so I want all your asses on board the shuttle at the spaceport in eight hours. Dismissed," he commands. "Oh, and before you go, you should know we got a new Louie," Apone announces and then steps away as the Marines shake their heads in frustration. Stone and Hudson walk up to the two corporals.

"That would be just my luck, Mils! I'm about to get some serious pussy and we get pulled out? I'm too short for this shit," Hudson protests.

"Must be pretty big if we got called back, right?" Stone asks.

Mils and Hicks nod as Hicks moves to follow Hudson, Stone walks to Mils, noticing that he isn't as energetic as he was before he left to go talk with his grandmother.

"Hey Chrissy? You in there?" She asks.

"Huh? Yeah. Look Ash, this isn't just another bug hunt," Mils cautions.

"So it's a super bug hunt?"

Mils shakes his head. "Ash, the colony we're going to? My sister's there. They lost contact, but she was able to send out a distress call. I've only ever heard my sister sound scared, I mean _truly_ in fear, on two occasions, both involving the deaths of our parents. I just hope we get some answers sooner than later..." Mils worries, sitting down on a spare bar stool. Stone is slightly thrown off by this show of emotion from her best friend. The man who was known to be a good leader, a badass in disguise, and a total hunk outside of the blood and death was showing that he was fearful, fearful of losing his sister and only surviving family until recently.

Stone herself was an only child, so to a large part she considered the squad to be full of her adopted brothers and sisters. Vasquez was her cool sister who showed her how to get a homemade tattoo, and Hudson was her goofy brother who was used to making light of a situation. Hicks was the serious but protective older brother looking over everybody, and Mils of course was her crush, someone she shared a soft spot for. She knew he was probably in for a roller coaster of emotions, so the best she could do was be there for him, and be his sister if the need ever arose.

"We will Chrissy, I know we will. I've -" she stuttered, "we've - got your back," she smiles, placing a gentle hand on his shoulder. He looks back up towards his friend, blushing a little as he notices her eyes staring into his, and he looks at the squad around him, feeling confident that no matter what he finds on LV-426, he won't be alone.

"Thanks Ash, you're always good for a smile..." he finally sighs in relief.

"Hey, I try," Stone says easily with a shrug, as the two friends go have one more drink.

…

"No. There's no way," Ripley protests as she paces the floor, hearing the details of the colony's disappearance on LV-426.

"Ripley, please - " Burke nearly pleads.

"I was reamed, steamed and dry-cleaned by you guys, practically thrown to the wolves, and now you want me to go back out there? Forget it, it's not my problem," she continues, ignoring him, Gorman keeping his silence as Burke continues.

"Ripley, please listen. We've lost contact with the colony completely, and we thought it might have been just a downed transmitter, but we did get one transmission before all contact was lost," Burke relates as he produces a voice recorder from his suit pocket and places it on the coffee table.

"A member of the colony, a botanist named Dr. Elizabeth Ripley, sent out that message. It's in her voice, we matched it with Company records," Burke slowly explains, as Ripley pays immediate attention at the mention of her second grandchild's name. "Do you want me to play the message?"

"I'll listen to it in private, thank you," Ripley declines quietly, and Burke nods to Gorman for his turn.

"Ms. Ripley I can promise you, you won't be going in with the troops. I can guarantee your safety - you'll be away from the main line of action, if there is any. There have been more than a dozen documented cases of this happening where we get a call to investigate a loss of contact, only to find out that a line's been disconnected." Gorman explains, as Burke adds his own statement.

"See, these Colonial Marines are very tough hombres and mujeres, the best as a matter of fact, and the team that's getting sent in is very experienced. They've got the best weapons, tech, and ships money can buy - there's nothing they can't handle."

"Well, you don't need me, I'm not a soldier," she scoffs. Something else is on her mind, and to get it off her chest she looks at Burke and asks. "What's your interest in this? Why are you going?"

"Well personally...none...but the colony was co-financed by the company, along with Colonial Administration, so...they want someone with eyes and ears on the ground. We've been getting into a lot of terraforming lately, building better worlds, that sort of thing - "

"Yeah, yeah - I saw the commercial. Required viewing by law, remember?" Ripley replies with some subtle sarcasm. "Look, I don't have time for this, I've got to get to work."

"Right, I heard you're working the cargo docks," Burke guesses with a smile on his face.

"Yeah. Just started..." she replies suspiciously.

"Running loaders, forklifts, that sort of thing?"

"It's fine. Days off are bad - big deal. So?"

"Nothing," the bureaucrat answers hurriedly, "I think it's great that you're keeping busy." Sensing her growing annoyance, perhaps, he defends himself further. "There's nothing wrong with it."

Ripley keeps her silence, waiting to see how long it would take him to make his actual pitch.

"What if I told you that I could get you reinstated as a flight officer? The Company's already agreed to pick up your contract," he offers.

"_If_ I go?" she asks, seeing it as little more than him or, maybe, the Company baiting the hook, waiting to see if she would bite. _No way is this fish going back out into the wide ocean for you or your masters,_ she thinks. _I've been out there, and I've seen the horror in the deep. Never again…_

"Yeah, if you go," he confirms, still urging her on. "Come on, that's a second chance, kiddo! And I think personally for you it would be the best thing in the world to get out there and _face_ this thing. Get back on the horse - "

"Spare me, Burke! I've had my psych evaluation this month," she gripes in warning.

Despite her cautioning him, Burke seems to be genuinely sympathetic, and she dares to believe the emotion in his words. "Yeah, I know. I've read it. You wake up every night _screaming_, your sheets are _soaking_ with sweat - "

"_I SAID NO!_ And I mean it," Ripley yells, pushing away from the counter and watching the two with stunned expressions, clearly unprepared for her outburst. "Now please leave. I am not going back, and I w-" she stutters, choking on the fear in horrible memory. "I would not be any good to you if I did."

Gorman and Burke look at each other as she sits down and rests her weary head in her hands. Burke nods to Gordon before finally standing up, and he places a polycarbonate business card with a magnetic tip down on top of the tabletop before leaning down to her. A phone card.

"Will you do me a favour?" He asks urging gently now in mind of her feelings and utter exhaustion. "Just think about it."

He stands and walks past Gorman and through the door, with Gorman remaining only a half second later.

"Thanks for the coffee," the Lieutenant replies and then turns and walks out, closing the door behind him.

Ripley removes her hands from her face at the sound of Jones mewling curiously, looking at him like the only friend in the world besides Andrew who might understand her plight.

Another nightmare wakes her up screaming and gasping. Only now, when her hand reaches up to her chest, feeling it whole, with ribs, skin, breasts intact as she feels her breast drop back onto her chest, does she realise she has fallen asleep, and she lets her hand drop. She lets herself sob quietly in relief that, for now, the nightmare is nothing more than that. She checks her chrono and realises only a few short hours have past. A soft purring is heard by the foot of the bed, and Ripley looks to see Jones watching her, and she swears silently that his face could almost evince some genuine sympathy. She strokes him gently, to which the feline purrs with content, and as she listens to that comforting sound she picks up a cigarette and pinches the self-lighting tip, watching it blaze to life. A puff of smoke in her lungs seems to comfort her further, but only seems to. She knows it is merely a placebo, since the new cigarettes marketed by Altrion, another Wey-Yu subsidiary (_like everything else in the galaxy lately, _she thinks), are supposed to be nicotine-free, but she knows that they're only nicotine-free because they aren't made with tobacco. They haven't been, she knows, ever since the Third Era of Prohibition outlawed tobacco in all its forms, labelling it a Schedule I drug.

As she puffs on her cigarette her eyes wander until she spies the phone card and the voice recorder on the coffee table, looking more and more like her only way to freedom from her nightmares. After a few moments of contemplation, she concedes that the temptation is too great to ignore, and she picks up the voice recorder and plays the message from LV-426.

The voice sounds much like her own, younger of course and perhaps lighter, without the constant sense of fear and distress that her own encounter on the _Nostromo_ had awakened in her. Just like Chris Mils, the time distortions of cryosleep had made her own granddaughter to grow up before she had a chance to meet her. She puts aside her maudlin sentiment and focusses on the message itself.

"This is Doctor Elizabeth Ripley...I'm an exobotanist at the Hadley's Hope colony on the planet Acheron, common designation LV-426, declaring a Code Black emergency. We have encountered a highly aggressive alien species, we request immediate military aid. Emergency code is NVR-223-43B. We have suffered heavy casualties and are currently under attack by this species. I say again, we need immediate military aid on LV-426!"

Ellen cannot believe her ears. As a tear falls silently from her eye, she knows that pitch, that level of fear inside someone's voice, an intensity of feeling she had only ever felt on the _Nostromo,_ and from what she had heard, she can only deduce that her daughter was in incredible danger. She listens to the recording again and again, trying to make sense of it, trying to hear some clue that said she didn't have to go, that the terror she had known on the Nostromo now only exists in her mind, that she and her grandchildren were all safe. Every time she plays back the recording one thing becomes more and more clear, the thing she dreads and wants to deny.

There is only one possible conclusion.

The same species that had mercilessly slaughtered her crew had brothers still on LV-426, and the colonists had found them. They had opened the biological Pandora's Jar, and they were paying for it with their lives.

Of course Ripley had a personal stake in it. Now more than ever, not only did she want to see these abominations destroyed, but her own granddaughter was down on the colony, calling for help, and she is now determined to go, even knowing that it meant facing her fears.

She presses the phone card Burke had left into the slot on her vidphone and waits for him to pick up as the alert tone sounds. When he does, it becomes clear that she had caught him sleeping.

"Hello. Ripley...you ok?"

"Just tell me one thing, Burke," she pleads. "You're going out there to destroy them, right? Not to study, not to bring back…but to wipe them out."

"That's the plan. You have my word on that."

"Alright, I'm in," Ripley swears and then pulls out the card, terminating the link and ending the call, and then she turns to Jonesy.

"And you, you little shithead...you're staying here."

The shithead doesn't respond to that one.

...

Before leaving, Ripley decides she has one more thing to do, as she enters into the medical wing of Gateway station, going to the gift shop there and buying a bouquet of flowers, and then arriving in Mils's room and placing them in a vase next to Andrew's bed. She looks at him as she stands by his side, wondering if the stories are true and if he will be able to hear her in his comatose state. After a quiet moment she decides to just roll with it.

"Andrew...it's Ellen. I don't know if you can hear me but...I'm leaving. I'm going back out there, and I'm going to try and put an end to all of this, to find answers, and hopefully to kill these things once and for all." She catches a sob in her throat and suppresses it - there will be a time for tears, but not yet, not with so much left to do.

She takes a breath and continues. "Things will be different when you wake up. We're in a whole new world. And get this - we're grandparents. I don't know how to explain this, but our kids hooked up. They're simple enough, and they're already fully grown. One's a marine and the other is on the colony we're going to...back on the planetoid. They call it Acheron and LV-426 now, and the colony, if it's still there, is called Hadley's Hope. I can't promise much, but I promise - I'll be here when you wake up. Take care Andrew..." Ripley finishes as she places a gentle kiss on his forehead, then stands and turns to go. Before she exits the room, though, she takes one more look back at his sleeping form, and then she heads towards the docking bay to take a shuttle to the USS _Sulaco_, and a ticket to the world to which she had sworn she would never return.


	7. Chapter 6: Express Elevator to Hell

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY.

ORIGINAL CHARACTERS ARE OWNED BY ME.

ALIENS (NOVELISATION) IS OWNED BY ALAN DEAN FOSTER AND TITAN BOOKS.

BETA'D, CHOPPED, SCREWED AND REMIXED BY DARTHTENEBRUS, ANY FURTHER MISTAKES ARE MY OWN.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Chapter 6: Express Elevator to Hell**

The _Conestoga_-class battleship and transport USS _Sulaco_ sits in dock at Gateway US Military Base. The docks hold countless ships of numerous sizes and shapes, all belonging to the US Military, which had only gotten larger in the last several decades thanks to Company influence. As dozens of shuttles and UD-4L Cheyenne dropships flit hither and thither, the _Sulaco_ sits patiently waiting for her full complement of more than a dozen United States Colonial Marines, one android, a Weyland-Yutani representative, and a lone civilian consultant to arrive.

The Marines begin to file into the locker room of the _Sulaco's_ crew quarters, all with respective hangovers and subdued anger at having to return to work, as it were, several days early. It is not all so bad to some of the marines - some like Corporal Mils have a different mindset, and in his particular case, seeing that the colony they were going to is the same colony his twin sister was assigned to, his usually calm demeanor has given way, replaced with a laser focus and a growing intensity like a thundercloud.

As he loads his belongings into his locker, his eyes catch the collage of family photos lining the inside - photos of him and his sister at birth, at their first day of school, at his graduation from Boot Camp, and his sister's graduation from College. The photos reminds him of happier times, and though his parents were gone, having gained a new family member or two in his life, his grandmother Ellen and her beau Andrew Mils, even while the latter remains comatose, is a huge and sudden addition to his life he never planned on happening, not under the present circumstances, but he cannot help feeling a swell of happiness at the thought.

He now has an extended family to care for, and a sister to save. His train of thought is interrupted as the platoon sergeant approaches.

"You ready Stretch?" Apone asks.

"You know I am Sarge." Mils answers matter of factly. Then something catches his eye.

Something, or rather, _someone_.

Mils ignores Apone for a moment as he takes notice of a woman with short brown hair and wearing a grey civilian jumpsuit walking around in the locker room. She finds a spare locker after a moment and puts her grey carry-on bag into it. Apone is rarely ever quiet for a long period of time, which makes Mils feel somewhat self-conscious that Apone hasn't started shouting again. He turns to look behind him and his eyes immediately catch on the woman in gray, his eyes widen slightly as his eyebrows raise themselves as his grandmother stands with a new haircut inside the Marines' locker room.

The presence of his grandmother is surprising considering the fact that though she has connections to the colony his squad is going to, she in the end is still a civilian.

"Wonder who Snow White is over there?" Apone says through his cigar.

"I think I have an idea, Gunny," Mils says, before briskly walking over to Ripley as she puts a book into her locker.

"Out of all the ships in the fleet you had to walk onto mine," Mils says trying to act smooth. Ripley turns around in surprise as she sees her grandson Christopher before her in his Marine attire.

"Christopher? What are you doing here?" she asks, as a smile forms on her features.

"Well my unit was the only one available, even though our ship won the distance lottery, so it looks like we're on our way to LV-426. Which begs the question, Ellen - what are _you_ doing here?"

"I've been 'encouraged' to come along by Weyland-Yutani. Now whether or not I trust them fully isn't important - we both need answers. You and I both have family down there," Ripley states with some suspicion.

"Yeah...Elizabeth? She's sharp, very resourceful, and as tough as they come. If anyone can make it through a possible insurgency, it's her."

"Insurgency?"

"Well that's what we suspect...at the moment anyway. There've been bands of pirates and rogue government insurgents in that sector of space. Best two possible outcomes right now are simple, we swing in there and find that the planet's storms have cut communications or we're in for a fight"

"What about the warning she sent?"

"Higherups think she's been taken hostage, being forced to say what she said. But on the off chance she's not lying?" Mils opines.

"Then it's worse than the worst case scenario," Ripley finishes.

"Yep," Mils states under his breath.

Just then Hicks walks up from behind Mils, slapping him on the shoulder and getting his attention, and making eye contact with the woman in front of his fellow corporal.

"Mils, finish up with her, we've got, erm, briefing in five," Hicks says awkwardly as he nods at Ripley while she looks elsewhere.

"Right. Ellen? I'll see you before we go into the ol' freezerinos," Mils says with a smile, causing a sad smile to form.

"You alright?" he asks concernedly.

"Yeah," she answers, "it's just that Brett, a member of my old crew used to call them the same thing."

"Oh," he responds contritely. "Sorry."

"No, it's okay. Let's get to that briefing, why don't we?"

….

Hicks and Mils enter the briefing room of the ship with Apone and Gorman already looking over a layout of the colony.

"Glad you two could finally join us," Apone says sarcastically.

"Let's get started Apone," Gorman orders, pointing at the map. This is the colony or at least this is what it looks like at the moment," he explains. "It's divided into several areas, with housing on the western half, working and docking sectors to the south and east, with a security HQ next to the operations center. There is a medical building nearby also located in the center, and many of the buildings in each sector are connected together by a tunnel system above ground"

"Operations is the primary control hub so to speak. Most likely if insurgents have taken over the colony, that's where they might be directing the flow of traffic..." he states before being interrupted by Apone.

"Sir? We still sure that the colony is dealing with insurgents? The message stated a form of hostile organism - this could be a bug hunt," Apone suggests.

Gorman sighs an answer soon after. "Noted, Gunnery Sergeant. Command thinks that if it's insurgents, that they might be using hostages to record bogus messages," Gorman suggests, speculating.

"Sir, if I may?" Mils interjects as he enters, "I know my sister. She wouldn't read off of some sort of script written for her, she would have put some sort of hidden message within the distress call. I think this might be a legitimate bug hunt sir," Mils adds.

"If it is we'll deal with it. If it isn't, and insurgents have taken over, then?" Gorman prompts.

"Then we're walking into a trap," Hicks realizes as the gravity of the situation dawns on them.

"Regardless, we need a plan. Now in situations like this, the plan is pretty simple - divide and conquer," Gorman explains, looking over the overlay of the colony. "We can send a squad to investigate the housing units, and another can take the garages..."

"Sir, they could pin us down and separate us from each other, they might have the strength in numbers to pull it off," Mils points out.

"Noted," Gorman replies.

"My bet's on taking operations first, to use it as a base of operations for investigating the rest of the colony. We can also look into Medical, as it's literally right down the hall." Apone says preparing a spare cigar for the cryochamber.

"I agree, sir," Hicks says.

"Same here, sir," Mils adds.

"Very good, then it's decided. We take operations first. We'll brief the squad when we're above the colony, till then it's SOP till we go cryo. Questions?" Gorman asks. When no one replies, he nods. "Dismissed," he concludes, upon which the commanders disperse.

The _Sulaco_ prepares to jump to FTL, with the squad and advisors getting into their cryotubes. Mils walks up to Ripley as she gets into her sleeping attire, well aware that nobody is speaking. This was the most uneasy part of the trip, making preparations to enter a three-week forced hibernation to conserve food, air and supplies, and also to keep the crew and passengers from going mad from three weeks with absolutely nothing but the same shit to do. Cryostasis isn't actual sleep, as in REM sleep the body undergoes a cycle where heart rate and respiration remain at least 90 percent of normal. Cryostasis was the closest thing to death there was.

"Hey, Ripley? Before we hit the hay? I wanna give you something," Mils says, handing a photograph to his grandmother. It's a picture of her granddaughter Elizabeth, looking unsurprisingly like her own daughter Amanda, a determined stare behind a kind smile. Ellen tears up a little bit at seeing the young lady in the photo before her, smiling wistfully as she responds.

"She reminds me of your mother….she has her eyes."

"Yeah. She inherited my mother's nerve and my father's attitude," Mils points out as he smiles, feeling a gentle surge of pride in his statement.

"She's definitely a Ripley," Ellen laughs as Apone walks over.

"Excuse me Stretch," he quips with faux gentility, "but you and the civvie are gonna have to play catch up later. WE'RE FTL IN FIVE PEOPLE, LET'S GO!" he says, shouting the final statement walking towards his cryochamber.

"Alright Ellen, I'll see you in three weeks?" Mils says with a smirk as Ripley moves towards her cryochamber. Burke and marines do the same, and after a few minutes the Sulaco jumps to faster than light drive, heading now towards the isolated colony of Hadley's Hope.

The _USS Sulaco_ drops out of lightspeed above the planetoid of Acheron. The inside of the ship is untouched by the rigors of space travel, the weapons and armour sit ready to go, and even the steady rhythm of the little rocking chicken-head pendulum on one of the mess hall tables remains unaltered. The ship's main computer core comes to life with a terminal in the cryobay displaying the full manifest of the marines and the two civilian advisors. The lights of the ship turn up to full intensity now, and the cryochambers activate. Finally, the cryochambers come to life with the lids opening, and the occupants waking up, all of them grumbling about having to wake up.

"They ain't paying us enough for this mess, man," Drake grumbles as he sits up in his tube, holding his neck.

"Mmm, not enough to have to wake up to your face, Drake," Dietrich groggily replies in the tube next to him, earning a nasty look from the smart gunner.

"What? Was that a joke?" Drake asks in mock offence.

"Oh, I wish it were," Dietrich replies in equal ridicule, as Drake looks over to both Mils and Hicks about three tubes down.

"Hey Stretch, Hicks! Man, you both look like I feel," Drake jokingly says.

"I guess that means you feel amazing right Drake?" Stone replies jokingly on the other side from Drake and Dietrich, causing Drake to tilt his chin at her defiantly.

"How are you always so fucking chipper coming out of cryo, Stone? Is that how you live up to your name?" he snarls.

Her only response is a shrug. "Search me," she says, winking at Mils, which makes the corporal blush a little.

It doesn't take long for Apone's usual stentorian command voice to filter down from the other end of the cryo bay, and all know he is up and moving about, stogie between his jaws and cap on head, ready for the fight already.

"Alright sweethearts, what are you waiting for, breakfast in bed? Another glorious day in the Corps…" he smiles as he gets on a roll. "A day in the Marine Corps is like a day on the farm. Every meal's a banquet, every paycheck a fortune, every formation a parade, I love the Corps!" he yells causing much of his marines to cover their head in annoyance. When he reaches Hudson and Frost, he annunciates the word "Corps".

"Ah God, Gunny, please!" Frost mumbles, covering his head and resting it on the lid of the cryochamber, Hudson meanwhile is hopping up and down lightly off the floor.

"Man this floor is _freezing_!" Hudson whines.

"What do you want me to do, fetch your slippers for ya?" Apone asks sarcastically.

"Gee, would ya sir? I'd like that," Hudson replies with equal sarcasm, Apone removes the cigar from his mouth and pulls down the bags under one of his eyes.

"Look into my eye," Apone growls, and he moves quickly down the line of cryotubes towards Crowe and Wierzbowski. "Fall in, people! Come on, let's go. Crowe! Wierzbowski! Come on, Ski, on your feet!"

He doesn't stop, making no comment when he sees Vasquez and Drake both mount the pull up bars next to the lockers. Standard routine coming out of cryo is to get the body to circulate blood as soon as possible, and the Marine Corps discovered that the best way to do that is the tried and true method of lots of exercise.

"Man it feels like we're back in Miami," Drake mumbles.

"Hey man! Yesterday was only three weeks ago," Hudson says, slapping him on the shoulder, and Vasquez continues her workout while Hudson glances up at her.

"Hey Vasquez, you ever been mistaken for a man?" Hudson asks she drops down from the bars.

"No. Have you?" she replies with a smirk, causing a laugh from several squadmates. Drake and Vasquez meanwhile grip hands.

"Oh, Vasquez! You're just too bad," Drake says with a smirk, earning a light slap by Vasquez. Spunkmeyer and Frost are meanwhile going at it.

"Hey, hand job, you take my towel?" Frost accuses.

"I need some slack, man. How can they send us straight back in after only a few days of shore leave?" Spunkmeyer replies.

"Well you got three weeks," Hicks says walking by.

"I'm talking about breathing, not this frozen shit," Spunkmeyer responds.

"Hey Top? Any idea why we got selected for this shit?" Dietrich asks.

"Ya'll know it's way above my paygrade," Apone answers. He then turns and announces, "Alright, first assembly's in fifteen, people, shake it!"

Vasquez meanwhile takes notice of Ripley. "Hey, _mira_. Who's Snow White?" she asks as the Cheyenne pilot walks by yawning, putting on a shirt, referring to the pale skinned Ripley as Ferro looks over.

"She's supposed to be some kind of consultant. Apparently, she saw an alien once," Ferro says, smirking.

"Well whoopie-fucking-doo! Hey, I'm impressed," Hudson says jokingly.

"_¡Qué bonita!"_ Vasquez comments as she mounts the pull-up bar again as Mils walks over.

"You guys ready?" Mils asks cracking his neck.

"Don't worry about it Cristobal! We're all good - locked, loaded and ready to throw some chingazos…" the compact woman the Marines on her squad have dubbed the Lethal Latina responds.

"Yeah….besides I don't think you have to worry about us," Hudson points out referring to Ripley, Mils looks over toward her with a sigh, hoping his grandmother will be able to maintain her composure during the mission.

"I think she'll be fine…she's my grandmother, after all," Mils says, walking away with the group being left speechless.

"That explains why he's a little on edge," Ferro points out, with everyone silently nodding, as Stone takes notice walking up as she continues yawning.

"Who, Chrissy? I m - I mean Stretch?" She asks, quickly correcting herself.

"Yeah, you might need to help him out, eh Sparks?" Hudson says elbowing her lightly.

"Umm..." Stone mutters, but before she can come up with a suitably witty and salacious comeback, Vasquez grabs her little sister from another mister, wrapping a protective arm around her.

"Hey don't worry about it, _hermana_, I'm sure you'll get your chance to sweep him off his feet," Vasquez smiles.

"Thanks Vas...like you and Drake right, or did you fall for him first? Oh shit!" Stone asks lightly joking, as Vasquez puts her in a headlock as the group prepares to grab the first meal they've had in literal weeks.

The squad chows down on the relatively decent food that the Corps has provided. Hudson walks gladly over with a full plate in hand sitting down next to Apone and across from Hicks, Mils and Frost, noticing that though technically the whole squad shares one whole table, their commanding officer Gorman along with Ripley, Burke and Bishop (unknown to Ripley the squad's synthetic) sits at a separate table just a bit away from the platoon, about three steps up.

"Hey Top? What's the Op?" Hudson asks

"It's a rescue mission, you'll love it," Apone shrugs nonchalantly. "There's some juicy colonist daughters we need to rescue from their virginity," Apone responds getting a laugh from the squad.

"Dumb ass colonists..." Crowe mumbles, as Spunkmeyer throws his cornbread back onto his plate in disgust.

"Man what's this crap supposed to be?!" Spunkmeyer complains.

"Cornbread, I think," Frost responds, with Stone doing finger quotes mouthing the word "cornbread"

"It's good for ya, boy, eat it," Hicks lightly orders.

"Yeah we don't our little Spunky Meyer not growing up to be as big and strong as Ferro" Mils jokes slapping the pilot and mechanic on the backs in a light hug.

"Fuck you..." Spunkmeyer says rolling his eyes, while Ferro laughs through her food.

"Hey Hudson...wouldn't mind having more of that Acturian poontang. Remember that time?" he asks his squadmate who laughs with a high five in response.

"Yeah, Frost, cause the one you had was _male_..." Spunkmeyer adds, to the mirth of the unit.

"Doesn't matter when it's Acturian man" Frost responds, as Bishop is handing out more cornbread. Hudson then holds out his knife for Bishop.

"Hey Bishop? Do your thing with the knife? Come on, you gotta!" Hudson asks and eventually pleads with Bishop looking almost annoyed, however when Bishop lays his hand down on the table in acquiescence, Drake sneaks up and forces Hudson's hand on the table under Bishop's.

"I don't wanna see that, man," Crowe grumbles, looking away.

"Do it, Bishop," he whispers.

"Hey, not me, man!" the tech head protests, trying to squirm out of Drake's and Bishop's grip.

"Yeah, you!"

"Hey, quit messing around, come on!" Hudson pleads.

"Don't move!"

"Trust me," Bishop says completely calm, as he begins the knife trick.

"Hicks, ten bucks he cuts Hudson..." Frost silently says to his team leader.

"Twenty says he doesn't," Mils says, having some experience with synthetics, and the pair place money on the table as the stunt commences, with Bishop going in between both his and Hudson's fingers with the blade of the knife, faster and faster, almost a blur as the impact noises nearly drown out Hudson's screaming, much to the enjoyment of the squad. Finally he stops almost as suddenly as he began, with Hudson panting, his eyes finally going wide.

"Thank you." Bishop says politely handing Hudson back his knife hilt first, while Drake hands the tray of Hudson's food back to him with a friendly slap on the shoulder.

"Here ya go, short shit. Enjoy your meal."

"That wasn't funny, man!" Hudson says as they walk away satisfied and disturbed by equal turns.

"Thank you, sir!" Mils cheers, gratefully receiving Frost's twenty dollar bet as Bishop brings the spare cornbread to the civilian table.

"Lieutenant Gorman? Mr. Burke?" he asks as both Burke and Gorman thankfully accept.

Hicks takes notice of the Lieutenant's treatment of the squad so far. "Looks like the new lieutenant's too good to eat with the rest of us grunts," he at last opines.

"Yeah, boy's definitely got a corncob up his ass," Frost says under his breath, making known his feelings for Gorman's disdain.

"I thought you never missed, Bishop," Burke asks when he sees the android casually regard a drop of spilled circulating fluid from a cut on his finger. Noticing this, Ripley becomes alarmed, her spider sense going berserk.

"You never said anything about an android being on board! Why not?" Ripley asks with anger. Burke looks shocked and surprised and sighs a response.

"Well, it never occurred to me. It's been Company policy for years. It's common practice, we always have a synthetic on board."

"I prefer the term 'artificial person' myself."

"Right," Burke mouths to himself, conceding to the android, and acknowledging his right to be referred to as a person instead of property.

"Is there a problem?" Bishop asks, turning to Ripley with genuine curiosity.

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I didn't even -" Burke apologizes to Ripley and turns to Bishop to explain. "Ripley's last trip out the synth - uh, the 'artificial person' malfunctioned - "

"Malfunctioned?!" She echoes in utter disbelief, calling bullshit on the whole story.

"There were problems, and a few deaths were involved." Burke concludes.

"I'm shocked! Was it an older model?" Bishop asks, wide-eyed.

"Yeah, it was a Hyperdine Systems 120-A/2."

If it was ever possible for an android to feel anything for another of his kind, it seems Bishop rather feels disdain for what he sees as an inferior model of his species, judging by his response.

"Well, that explains it. I mean, the A/2's always were a bit twitchy. That could never happen now with our behavioral inhibitors. It is impossible for me to harm or, by omission of action, allow to be harmed, a human being. You sure you don't want some -?" Bishop explains offering the tray which Ripley slaps out of his hand, causing a raucous clatter and getting everyone's attention.

"You just stay away from me, Bishop. You got that straight?" Ripley responds with an angry calm.

"Guess she don't like the cornbread either..." Crowe mutters, with Mils and Ripley exchanging glances from afar.

Mils asks, "You good?"

"It's under control".

….

The squad fans out into the hanger, all partaking in some sort of activity, Spunkmeyer and Ferro talking about the dropship, Dietrich and Frost going through some hand to hand combat exercises, and Hudson, to nobody's surprise, leafing through a porn magazine. Ripley and Burke slowly follow Gorman who gets Apone's attention.

"Squad, attention! Officer on deck!" Apone orders as the squad snaps to attention.

"As you were" Gorman says removing his cap rubbing his newly shaved head.

"Quickly quickly, settle down! Alright, listen up!" Apone orders as the squad gathers in front of their CO.

"Morning Marines...I'm sorry we didn't have time to brief the rest of you before we left Gateway, but..." Gorman begins, before Hudson interrupts him with a question.

"Sir?" Hudson asks holding his hand up like a child laying on chain.

"What is it, Hicks?" Gorman replies with mild annoyance at being interrupted by Marines who didn't respect the chain of command.

"Hudson, sir. He's Hicks" Hudson replies looking towards Hicks who lights up a cigarette.

"What's the question?"

"Is this going to be a stand-up fight, sir, or another bug hunt?" Hudson finally asks with equal annoyance with lieutenants that were too cherry to let their troops ask questions.

"All we know is that there is still no contact with the colony. One possibility is that it could have been insurgents, but a more likely possibility is that a xenomorph may be involved." Gorman explains, but once again is interrupted by another marine this time Frost

"Excuse me sir a what?"

"A xenomorph..."

"It's a bug hunt..." Mils silently replies.

"What exactly are we dealing with here?" Hicks finally asks

"Ripley?" Gorman says encouraging the woman to step forward.

"Umm...I'll tell you what I know...We set down on LV-426. One of our crew members was brought back on board with something attached to his face, some kind of parasite. We tried to get it off. It wouldn't come off. Later, it seemed to come off by itself and die. Kane seemed fine. We were all having dinner, and, um, it must have laid something inside his throat, some sort of embryo. He started-Um, he-" Ripley struggles to recount the events of the Nostromo's demise, and is mercifully interrupted by Vasquez.

"Look ma'am...I need to know only _one thing_ \- where they are," Vasquez states almost boastfully, placing her hands together to form a pistol and firing off an imaginary shot. before receiving hi-fives from the squad around her.

"Yo, Vasquez. Kick ass," Drake says with almost admiration of his "friend".

"Anytime, anywhere, man,"

"Right, right. Somebody said "alien." She thought they said "illegal alien" and signed up." Hudson says with a joking manner.

"Fuck you, man..." Vasquez responds, flipping Hudson off.

"Anytime, anywhere," he replies lasciviously.

"Are you finished?" Ripley asks sternly. She walks up to Vasquez and looks the smart gunner squarely in the eye, her steel gaze never wavering.

"I hope you're right," she cautions Vasquez in a deceptively calm voice. "I really do."

"Okay,right. Thank you, Ripley. We also have Ripley's report on disk, so I suggest before we drop that you study it - " Gorman states as Ripley walks behind him, but she soon walks back up to hammer in the point.

"Because just _one_ of those things managed to wipe all but one of my whole crew in less than eight hours, and if the colonists have found that ship, then there's no telling how many of them have been exposed. Do you understand?" Ripley states coldly and firmly, being as serious as possible. The Marines seem thrown back and almost remorseful at what Ripley had experienced, and Mils himself feels quite surprised - he had only just seen the soft side of his grandmother, and here she is, now revealing her angry, business side.

Gorman respectfully regains the initiative of the briefing. "Anyway, we have it on disk, so you'd better look at it. Any questions?"

Hudson raises his hand again. "How do I get out of this chickenshit outfit?" His comment gets some laughs, but receives a quick retort from Apone.

"You secure that shit, Hudson!" he growls.

Gorman finally has had enough. His voice is calm, as an officer's voice should always be because an officer should never have to shout, but his irritation finally gives way to anger and his calm becomes icy rather than mellow. "Alright. Now listen up. I want this thing to go smooth and by the numbers. I want DCS and tactical database assimilation by 0830. Ordnance loading, weapons strip and dropship prep details will have seven hours." Gorman orders, with the marines all acting shocked, grumbling at the large list of things they now had to do in a relatively short amount of time.

"Fuck me..." Mils says.

"Yes I will..." Stone jokes to herself _sotto voce,_ which Vasquez hears, smirking.

"Now move it, people!' Gorman yells marching away.

"Alright, sweethearts! You heard the man, and you know the drill, assholes and elbows! Hudson? Come here..._come here_!" Apone orders as the squad moves to their prep positions.

"Alright...check it Sparks!" Ferro yells over the roar of the engines as Stone tests the dropship's diagnostics. Suddenly a bang is heard from the engine, with debris hitting Stone.

"Oh, turn it off! Turn it off! Off! Turn it off!" Ferro yells rushing towards her ship, with Stone now being covered in smoke and dust.

"Ugh, you never looked better, Sparks."

"How did I get stuck with this job?" Stone coughs a reply.

"Spunky's on supply duty..." Ferro says pointing over towards Spunkmeyer whose using a power loader to lift massive crates into proper position.

"I don't care if you _are_ short, Hudson, get it done!" Apone yells, walking towards Crowe and Wierzbowski and passing Dietrich as she handles a control box for the inner airlock. "Corporal, I want that loading lock _sealed_! Now!

"Hey, Gunny, you'll get lip cancer smoking those!" Hudson jokingly warns as Apone eventually walks over to Hicks and Mils supervising the movement of supplies. Ripley looks around wanting to help, but not knowing if she can because of her license restrictions.

"Spunkmeyer? That's the last one right?" Mils yells over as the crew chief loads a missile into a pod in the Cheyenne dropship.

"Yeah...clear behind!" Spunkmeyer yells before he starts walking backwards in his power loader, causing the squad to think of some old vids about a dancer who did what was once called a moonwalk.

Ripley walks up to the trio. "Hi! I'm starting to feel like a fifth wheel around here. Is there anything I can do?" she asks.

Apone looks askance at her as he chews on his smoldering stogie. "I don't know is there anything you can do?" he asks.

Ripley mulls for a split second, but only for that, and then she looks over her shoulder and then back at Apone and Hicks, grinning.

"Well, I can drive that loader. I have a class 2 rating."

"I don't know..." Apone prevaricates, looking between Hicks, Mils and Ripley.

"Ahh come on, Gunny, she's kin of mine after all," Mils wheedles with a smile.

"Alright, be my guest," Apone says motioning to the spare loader. The three men observe in surprise as Ripley locks in and correctly starts up the loader, running through the standard checks and function tests. She uses the loader with ease, picking up a supply create and turning towards the trio.

"Where you want it?" she asks with a smirk, which causes all three men to laugh.

"Bay 12, please," Apone answers.

….

With the ship and dropships ready to go, the squad moves to prepare themselves and their weapons for the mission.

Frost checks and loads each M41A pulse rifle, along with incinerators and secondary weapons. Vasquez and Drake, being the two smart gun operators prep their M56s along with body harnesses and targeting scopes for combat, moving around with the heavy packs on to "wake up" their bodies and warm up the weapons themselves.

Finally, the time had arrived for the squad to armor themselves up, with Ferro and Spunkmeyer already in the dropship going through final preps, Bishop drives the large and heavily armed Armoured Personnel Carrier into position, with both Ripley, Gorman and Burke standing by.

In the locker room, the squad puts on their armor and helmets. Stone ties a black headband around her head, with the words "five feet of fury" written on the front, she looks over at Mils who seems perfectly calm and still as he stares at the picture of his family inside of his locker one more time.

"Hey! We'll find her, Chrissy..." Stone says with a smirk as she applies eye black grease paint under her eyes like an athlete.

"Damn fucking straight," Mils says, high-fiving her, he then pulls out a revolver, one that seems ancient but has been kept up to date and well taken care of, looking at it lovingly considering it belonged to his father.

"Man Stretch, I don't know why you bring that thing," Hudson says from afar.

"Family heirloom, Hudson, plus this family heirloom can put a melon sized hole in a metal wall, so it'll do" Mils says, spinning the revolver like a cowboy before putting it into his pistol holster.

"All right, sweethearts. We're a team, and there's nothing to worry about. We come here, and we gonna conquer, and we gonna kick some. Is that understood?" Apone asks as he receives various testosterone filled replies. Vasquez and Drake exchange a chest bump of sorts, with a little hint of affection being shown between the two of them.

"Love ya, baby," Drake says to his Lethal Latina.

The chaos straightens out and squares itself away as the Marines finish their individual and buddy checks. Satisfied, Apone begins to motivate his troops once again.

"Alright people, on the ready-line. Are you lean?"

"Yeah!" They chorus in response.

"ARE YOU MEAN?!"

"YEAH!"

"WHAT ARE YOU?!"

"LEAN AND MEAN!"

"WHAT ARE YOU?!"

"MARINES!"

Now that they're sufficiently riled up, Apone turns his attention to individual troops, spotting Hudson first. "Hudson? Get on the ready line, Marine! _Get some today_! Get on the ready-line! Move it out! Move it out, goddammit! Get hot! One, two, three, alright, get out, get out, get out! Move it out, move it out, move it out! Move it out, move it out, move it out!" Apone yells as the squad grabs their weapons and helmets and runs towards the ready line outside the APC, with Apone yelling the whole way, he marches down the line of marines.

"Unnnnh! Absolutely badasses! Let's pack 'em in! Get in there!" Apone yells as he opens the APC doors, the squad files in storing their weapons and taking their assigned seats, as Burke and Ripley take theirs, Gorman takes his seat in the control chair near the front.

"Alright, I want combat seating. You know your places. Get those weapons stowed, let's go! Come on, settle down, people! Lock them in Hudson!" Apone orders.

"You ready to get it on? You know it!" Hudson yells locking the seats into place, so no one goes flying on the ride.

"Okay Bishop let's go" Gorman orders and Bishop reverses the APC onto the dropship.

"Roger" he replies, as the vehicle begins to move onto the ramp, Hudson locks the seats and hi-fives Vasquez before locking Burke and Ripley's seats. He takes his seat next to Stone.

"You ready, party girl?" Hudson asks like a big brother.

"Anytime Hud..." She says with a wicked smile and shockabra, Ferro meanwhile communicates each item on her checklist to the lieutenant in the APC.

"Stand by. Cross-locking now. Prelaunch autocycle engaged. Primary couplers released. Hit the internals." She says as the dropship is lowered slowly into a large airlock with side struts. Struts appear from the sides and lock into place, allowing the main couplers to elevate back into the main bay, upon which the dorsal inner doors close, cutting the Marines off from the rest of the _Sulaco._

"Confirm cross-lock and drop stations secured," she calls out to Gorman.

"Affirmative. All drop stations secured." Gorman says as his chair is slid into place.

"Stand by. Ten seconds." Ferro mutters, and on cue, the ventral outer doors swing open to empty space and the thin atmosphere of Acheron.

"Stand by to initiate release sequencer... on my mark." Ferro says, prepping her hand and her body as Spunkmeyer takes a deep breath. Ripley makes eye contact with Hicks, and once again looks somewhere else in embarrassment.

"Five, four, three..." Ferro continues.

"We're on a express elevator to hell!" Hudson shouts out, grinning like a madman. "Going _down_!"

"Two, one. Mark."


	8. Chapter 7: Ghost Town

ALIENS IS OWNED BY _**20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY**_

ALL FOUR ORIGINAL CHARACTERS ARE OWNED BY ME.

ALIENS (NOVELISATION) IS OWNED BY _**ALAN DEAN FOSTER**_ AND TITAN BOOKS

BETA'D, CHOPPED AND SCREWED, AND REMIXED BY _**DARTHTENEBRUS**_, ANY FURTHER MISTAKES ARE MY OWN.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Chapter 7: Ghost Town**

Ferro presses the release sequencer, and the internal couplers release, swinging downward, sending the dropship plummeting down from the Sulaco and into the thin atmosphere of the planetoid. Ferro ignites the rocket boosters to slowly gain control of the craft while the occupants of the APC fight through the intense g-force from the drop.

"**WHOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOO**!" Hudson yells at the top of his lungs inside the claustrophobic confines of the APC.

"I hate this part!" Stone yells.

"It's not that bad, Sparks! Only a few minutes more, Marine!" Apone yells like a parent trying to get his daughter to stop bouncing.

"Switch to DCS Ranging," Ferro orders as she and Spunkmeyer try to get their bearing, and Spunkmeyer flips a few switches as an overlay lights up on his helmet monitor.

"2-4-0. Nominal to profile," he responds almost at once, and Ferro nods and smiles at her mechanic's answer.

"We're in the pipe, five by five," she says, confirming a solid lock on a clear signal as the dropship begins to enter into the atmosphere of the planet.

"We're picking up some hull ionization," Spunkmeyer cautiously says upon seeing a telltale alert from his console.

"Got it," she confirms coolly. "Rough air ahead. We're in for some chop!" Ferro announces to the squad over their helmet mikes as the dropship and APC shake roughly for a few moments. After they steady and level out, Ripley openly ponders a question on her mind.

"How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant?" she asks.

It takes a moment for Gorman to respond. "Thirty-eight," he finally answers, with some of the squad nodding with silent approval, until the second part of his answer is heard. "Simulated."

Mils and Vasquez exchange looks of silent concern, causing her to ask an additional question.

"How many _combat_ drops?" Vasquez asks pointedly, showing genuine interest.

"Uh, two - including this one," he admits nervously, causing the squad to begin grumbling. Various curses can be heard muttered within the APC.

"Shit…" Drake hisses.

"Oh, man!" Hudson exclaims, shaking his head in disbelief.

The dropship passes through the murky cloud layer at last, pitch black clouds giving way to a slate-grey twilight. It does not improve the mood of either the pilot or the crew chief.

"Range 0-1-4. Turning on final," Ferro announces as she casually listens to the comm chatter.

"I'm telling ya, man, I got a bad feeling about this drop," she hears Frost stating out loud.

"You always say that, Frost. You always say '_I got a bad feeling about this drop_,'" Wierszbowski replies, expressing his annoyance to his battle buddy.

"Ok, ok. When we get back without you, I'll call your folks," Frost chuckles.

Gorman turns toward his wall of monitors, having heard the latest report along their flight path from Ferro. He glances over each monitor assigned to the personal cameras attached to the helmet of each squad member, and at the vital signs readouts transmitted from their sensor packages inside the backplates of their battle armour.

"All right, let's see what we can see. Everybody online, looking good." he says as he looks at the monitors displaying each squad member's vital signs as well as the camera feeds, making occasional adjustments with Apone looking over his LT's shoulder. One monitor shows a slight fuzziness, a loss of resolution that might be important in identifying a target or a friendly.

"Drake, check your camera. There seems to be a malfunction," Gorman informs the smartgunner, whose response is to slam the camera hard on the left side with a battery pack, ironically clearing up the fuzziness and sharpening the picture.

Catching Ripley's surprised stare, Drake explains, "Learned that back in tech school. You gotta do it on the left side or it doesn't work."

"What happens otherwise?" Ripley asks.

"You overload the internal pressure control. You know, the one that keeps your helmet on your head. Your eyeballs implode and your brains explode."

"What brains?" Vasquez chortles. Drake tries to hit the left side of her headset with a battery pack in response, causing a few amongst the platoon to laugh quietly.

"That's better. Pan it around a bit - good. Hudson, start unlocking everyone." Gorman orders as the joker of the squad releases himself from his and Stone's seat, going around doing final checks of the squad.

"I'm ready, man. Check it out. I am the _ultimate_ badass! State-of-the-badass-art! You do _not_ wanna fuck with me! Check it out!" Hudson grins, checking something near Ripley and Burke's seat.

"Hey, Ripley," he reassures her, "don't worry - me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you!" Hudson grins, showing off the squad, while Mils shoots a look of "just let him be" over to Ripley, who allows just the barest hint of a smile to appear.

Despite her misgivings about going down to face her nightmares again, she finds herself genuinely liking the comtech as he shows off the platoon's beloved combat equipment.

"Check it out. Independently targeting particle-beam phalanx. Vwap!" Hudson says, making Ripley jump with the added sound effects. "Fry half a city with this puppy. We got tactical smart missiles, phase plasma pulse rifles, RPGs, We got sonic, ee-lectronic ballbreakers! We got nukes no flukes, we got knives, sharp sticks..." Hudson continues before eventually being cut off by Apone.

"Knock it off Hudson! All right, gear up. Two minutes people. Get hot! Somebody wake up Hicks…" the platoon sergeant orders as the squad members get up from their seats and Mils kicks his fellow corporal awake, causing Hicks to jerk slightly. Even when being rudely awakened in mid-drop, the expression "butter wouldn't melt in his mouth" well-suited him.

"Come on, Hicks, it's go-time!" Mils says, offering a hand which Hicks gladly accepts.

"Coming around for a seven-zero-niner," Ferro announces.

"Terminal guidance locked-in!" Spunkmeyer reports back.

"Always knew you were terminal, Spunky. Where's the damn beacon? Oh, I see it." Ferro says as the massive atmospheric processor crawls slowly into view, her camera feed piping through clearly to the operations screen. Ripley and Burke look at what appears to be a rounded pyramid, with four spires resembling lookout towers, approaching slowly through the mist.

"That's the atmosphere processor?" She asks the company rep.

"Yep, that's it. Remarkable piece of machinery, completely automated. You know, we manufacture those, by the way." Burke says, prompting a disdainful smirk from Ripley.

"Ok, Ferro, take us in low over the main colony complex." Gorman orders as he observes the area over which they are flying. "Storm shutters are sealed, there's no visible activity. All right. Hold at forty."

"Roger," Ferro responds.

"Give me a slow circle of the complex." Gorman orders as the drop ship moves around the complex in a slow, controlled turn.

"Structure seems intact. They still have power," Ripley emphasizes to the Lieutenant, who immediately notices a sufficient landing zone.

"Okay, Ferro, set down on the landing grid. Immediate dust-off on my clear, then stay on station." Gorman orders, and the ramp and skids lower from the holding bay, just before the dropship turbines whine and the skids touchdown on the tarmac.

"Down and clear!" Ferro announces and lifts off and away while Bishop drives the APC into the colony, the squad stacking up on the door ready to exit once they reach their destination.

"Ten seconds people, look sharp!" Apone sounds off. "Alright, I want a nice, clean dispersal this time!"

"Let's do this, boys and girls!" Mils yells.

"Yeah baby!" Drake responds, just as they reach the outside of the operation building, the door to the APC slides open and the first squad moves out.

"Let's _go_, move it out!" Apone shouts. "Head 'em up!"

The heavy rain drenches the troops as they enter into the field. Apone and Mils' rifle teams lead the way as they monitor Hudson, Vasquez, Stone, and Crowe, with Apone and Mils flanking Vasquez's gun team on point with her M56. Drake's gun team moves up with his weapon near the port side of the open gate, aiming into the interior of the colony and ready to provide fire support.

"Sir the gate's open, I don't think the place is on lockdown" Apone reports to the APC as he takes notice.

"Copy that," Gorman says, causing Burke and Ripley to exchange worried looks. "First squad up, on-line. Hicks, get yours in a cordon and watch the rear," he orders as Hicks, Drake, Dietrich, Wierzbowski and Frost move back behind the first squad's location to face outboard, forming a line abreast to cover the platoon's rear firing arc.

Apone looks through his binoculars, not seeing a soul or hearing a sound in the vicinity.

"Move up!" He orders Mils who signals Vasquez to advance with the rest of the first squad. Hicks' squad moves tactically in tow, and as Apone gets to the operation center's sealed door terminal he quickly slaps the "door open" button, with no response. He steps aside in a half second and waves Hudson up.

"Hudson, run a bypass!" he orders, prompting Hudson to extract a hip-mounted emergency access kit and hack into the door's controls.

"Second squad, move up, flanking positions!" Gorman orders as Hicks' squad follows suit.

"Second squad on-line!" Hicks says as he moves with his squad. They part by teams, Drake and his gun team returning to port while Hicks and the rest move to the starboard side.

After a few moments Hudson is successful in getting the large heavy doors to open up with Mils, Vasquez, and Apone near the opening, weapons at the ready. Apone looks carefully into the interior for a second then motions Vasquez to go in.

"You set?" Mils asks Vasquez, who nods simultaneously with Mils to Apone, who forces the door open.

"Quiet," Apone orders as the Marines move up to the main entryway. Mils and Apone stand next to the security door, opening it up for Vasquez who leads the squad into a corridor that looks like a warzone, with massive holes through the ceiling, walls and even the floor.

"Second team, move inside. Hicks, take the upper level," Gorman orders as Hicks leads his squad inside and up a stairwell to the starboard. Mils' squad,with Apone accompanying them, moves slowly through the debris-laden hallway, examining every square centimetre of battlespace.

Apone reports back to the LT. "Sir, you copying this? Looks like hits from small-arms fire. Uh, with some explosives damage, it's probably, um, seismic survey charges. You reading this?"

"Copy that Apone, watch your step," Gorman orders as he keeps all his attention on the screens in front of him.

"Keep it tight, people," Apone quietly orders.

"Sir, the blast radius on these, they don't resemble military grade, I'd say some form of IED," Mils adds, having noticed several larger holes that appear to have erupted outward, with jagged edges suggesting a greater force had produced them.

"Copy that, Mils, get ready to disperse. Hicks, Hudson - use your motion trackers," Gorman orders as the two Marines reach down and lift small handheld boxes slung over their shoulders with sensors and a screen each. These trackers were used in a similar way to the devices that Ripley remembers Ash cobbling together. These new trackers, she notices, focus on movement with much greater precision, also unlike trackers of the past it can pinpoint where exactly a moving target is located, with the sonic emitters sending out ultrasonic pulses every half second.

A few silent minutes pass, with no pings on the screen showing up.

"Nothing, not a goddamn thing…" Hicks says as he and his squad move forward slowly, with Drake leading the way.

Hudson shakes his head indicating nothing on his tracker either.

_Micro changes in air density, my ass_, Ripley finds herself thinking in derision. These boxes seem to have crapped out just like their jury-rigged ancestors aboard _Nostromo_.

"Alright….quarter and search by twos!" Gorman orders.

"Okay you heard the man, Hudson, Vasquez continue forward, Stretch and Sparks? Down this one, Crowe on me!" Apone orders as the pairs move out.

"Let's move, Ash," Mils whispers as he and his partner move down the hallway to the right as Apone and Crowe handle the left, with Hudson and Vasquez walking straight forward.

Hicks' squad equally splits up. Wierzbowski takes a look down a darkly lit hallway, incinerator at the ready.

"Okay Dietrich, Frost, you're up!" Hudson orders as the two in question leapfrog up the hall, with both he and Drake remaining at a slightly opened door. Hudson toes the door open as he and Drake investigate an office complex. Drake leads the way with his smart gun aimed, noticing when he looks up that the office itself has holes torn through the ceiling, allowing rainwater from the outside storm to drip in.

"Looks like they were just in the middle of breakfast," Hicks points out, observing a half-finished doughnut and black coffee.

"Now you've got me feeling hungry, Hicks!" Drake says under his breath.

"You're always hungry…" Hicks retorts earning a grunt from Drake.

"Growing boy still…" he retorts.

On the level below, Hudson and Vasquez move slowly through the humid passageway.

"Shit man….I thought Miami was hot!" Hudson comments under his breath.

"_No mames_, Hud, this ain't hot," Vasquez smiles, "This is just right-" Her banter with Hudson is interrupted by a sudden ping on the proverbial radar as Hudson's motion tracker comes to life with a contact signature. The pair's well-trained ears immediately perk up, along with the ears of the occupants in the APC as they face the direction of the contact. The contact moves a little to the left as Hudson and Vasquez move slowly forward, and as they continue they notice that instead of it moving they are actually approaching it, and Hudson narrows down the location, nudging Vasquez towards a slightly ajar office door.

As the pings get louder Ripley prepares herself, taking in a few deep breaths and edging closer to the screens connected to Vasquez's and Hudson's cameras.

Hudson and Vasquez prepare their weapons as they wait outside a closed door, the two look at each other. "It's right in there!" Hudson whispers softly, pointing past the open door with his thumb as he grabs his pulse rifle, letting his tracker drop to his side on its sling. He puts his foot against the edge of the door and puts his weight into it to open it further, allowing them to enter quietly one at a time. The pinging increases to its loudest and most frequent as they cross the office to another door. They look at each other and Vasquez nods.

"Now?" Hudson asks.

"Now!" Vasquez answers, thirsting for blood as Hudson kicks the door open. Both charge into the room with weapons aimed and fingers tight on the triggers, ready to blast -

A hamster in a cage.

Both sigh in disappointment. "Ugh…Good one Hudson…" Vasquez grumbles as Hudson keys his mike.

"Umm, sir? We have a, a _negative_ situation. Moving on, uh, sir," Hudson says briskly exiting the office with Vasquez. He looks at her, and she agrees with him - it could have been a lot worse.

The hamster could have been hostile.

Mils and Stone slowly move through the dark hallway, Stone in the lead with Mils pulling rear guard, occasionally looking behind him at hearing the occasional noise, and then he stops suddenly at seeing something on a door nearby.

"Sparks, hold up," he says.

She walks back to him. "What's up, Stretch?" she asks, lifting her helmet up slightly to see out from under the brim.

"This…this is my sister's quarters," Mils says, pointing at a nametag that says "Dr. Elizabeth Ripley." Mils tries to open the door and is surprised to find it unlocked. He gives Stone a concerned glance as she brings her incinerator to the ready position, with Mils preparing his pulse rifle. He moves in first, weapon raised and expecting trouble. The quarters are small, with personal touches of his sister everywhere. - a pennant from both her high school and her college on the wall, the occasional piece of trash on her desk, medical reports all neatly filed. The pair lower their weapons as Mils looks around the room for any sign of his sister.

Stone looks at the pictures of Mils' family. Several show the twins through the years, as babies, children growing up, going to school, prom dates, graduations, vacations, and one photo that catches her attention, a shirtless Christopher along with his father. From the looks of the photo it looks as though it was taken when her squadmate was still in high school, showing well-toned bodies of both Mils and, surprisingly, his father.

Blood rushes to Stone's face and she breaks out into a sweat, the heat from the resulting tomatoesque blush having nothing to do with the heat or the humidity. She slowly walked over to Mils fanning her face with the flimsiplast photograph.

"Not a bad looking picture, Stretch," she opines, causing Mils to turn and face her. His initial confusion quickly changes to brief shock, and then to fond recognition after he plucks the photo out of his flirting partner's hand and looks at it.

"This was taken in Hawaii. Me and Ellie's 18th birthday, one of the few times Mom and Dad were planetside."

"Yeah, your dad's quite the looker," she grins shamelessly.

"Jeez, Sparks! _Please_ don't have the hots for my dad!" He exclaims, mortified.

"Well you obviously get your looks from him." She shakes her head as if her statement is the most obvious in the known galaxy.

"You calling my mother ugly?"

"Oh stop!"

"Corporal!" Gorman's voice interrupts their spat, jerking them back to the here and now.

"You and Stone done with your sweep yet?"

"Almost, sir!" Mils coughs out a response as Stone takes the photo with a smile and puts it into a pocket. Mils examines the wall of photos, becoming slightly emotional as the memories flood back a little. He sniffs a little and grabs one photo in particular, one that shows the two of them on their 21st birthday, both drunker than hell but happy as a clam. Just the two of them, no parents. He grabs the photo and puts it in his back pocket, when a thought jumps into his head.

"Hold on a moment, I wonder if she..." Mils thinks aloud as he gets down on all fours and looks under his sister's bed.

"What's up Stretch?" Stone asks, walking over to him as he appears to be searching for something in particular.

"For our graduation, our parents gave us each a special gift and told us to never move in anyplace without taking them with us. Mine was my revolver - special dispensation from the Corps - which means that my sister's weapon should be in here. Ah, found it," Mils says as he pulls out a metal case. As he lays it on the bed, he notices a number lock on the front, and he instinctually rotates the four numbers to that of him and his sister's birth year, 2151, however it doesn't unlock, he then lowers it to the year his parents met, 2137, still it doesn't work. He thinks hard for a moment, and then he finds himself turning to an alternative source.

"Sir, this is Mils here, requesting comms with Ripley element," Mils asks through the radio.

Ripley glances confused at Gorman, who then hands her a headset. "It's Mils, he wants to talk to you," he states. She nods her head in understanding and then dons the headset, adjusting the bone-thin mike. "Yes, Mils. Yes I'm here, what is it?" she says.

"What year did the _Nostromo_ disappear?" Mils asks, the question taking his grandmother a little by surprise.

"Um, 21...22? Yes, that's it - 2122. Why?" Ripley queries.

"Just have a hunch, the safe code's gonna be...yes, here we go," Mils says as he enters it into the lock and presses the old-style button, causing the lock to click open. He slowly opens it, revealing a shotgun, still in pristine condition, just as well kept as Mils' revolver despite the age.

"Holy shit," Stone gasps in reverence. "That thing looks like it could put a hole through the APC."

"Oh yeah," Mils smiles, "Mom always did give Ellie the good stuff." He picks the shotgun up and smoothly racks the magazine. Noticing that it is fully loaded, he places it on his back.

He looks at Stone. "You know if - _when_ we find my sister, she'll be happy to see it!" Mils says as he and Stone exit the room and head for the rally point.

On the level above Drake and Hicks move through the main part of the hallway, closely and calmly scanning every inch of every surface with their Mark One Eyeballs, as they like to refer to their eyes in the Colonial Marine Corps. Ripley tracks with them, watching the camera feeds from their helmets and beginning to mentally wander, and then she notices something on the monitors.

"Wait. Wait, tell him to - " She then remembers having set down her headset. Instead of donning it properly, the circumstances and expediency cause her to simply hold it to her ear and to speak into the bone mike. "Hicks? Back up, pan right," she says, and Hicks slowly backs up, turning his head toward a large hole in the metal grating.

"You seeing this alright?" Hicks asks, kneeling down close as he gets Drake to focus his camera in on the hole. "Looks melted, someone must've bagged one of Ripley's bad guys here." Hicks concludes, Ripley looks back to Burke.

"Acid for blood..." Burke theorizes, and then Hudson contacts the APC.

"If you like that, you're gonna _love_ this..." he says as his and Vasquez's cameras show an even more massive hole, with the same melted steel composite alloy showing through several floors in a vertical direction. Hudson and Vasquez look down, leaning over the melt hole when they are silently joined by Apone. Hudson spits a loogie down the hole where it keeps going down into the darkness, Vasquez grins slightly, putting one of her hands on Hudson's back and slowly pushing him forward, causing him to jump back, startled.

"Quit screwing around!" he says at Vasquez who looks slightly amused, while Apone grasps his mike and brings it up close to his mouth.

"Stretch, sitrep," Apone asks into his headset.

"On our way back to you with the rest of first team. Sweep complete," Mils answers.

"Copy. Second squad, what's your status?" Apone asks, and Hicks responds almost immediately.

"Uh, we just finished our sweep, nobody's home!" he says.

"Roger," Apone growls. "Sir, uh, this place is _dead_...whatever happened here, I think we just missed it!"

"Alright, the area's secured. Let's go see what their computer can tell us," Gorman replies.

Ripley looks at him in disbelief. "Wait a minute, it's not _secure_!" she says, but is dismissed by Gorman. She looks away, mouth agape in frustration and thinking, _He really is inexperienced if he's going to ignore the very advisors he brought along. I'm the only one on this trip with any idea of what to expect!_

"The area's secured, Ripley," he says condescendingly. "First team, head for Operations. Hudson, see if you can get their CPU online."

"Affirmative" Hudson says.

"Mils, you move to secure Medlab with Vasquez and Stone."

"Yes sir," Mils responds.

"Hicks, meet me at the south lock. We're coming in."

Hudson covers his headset microphone. "He's coming in. I feel safer already," Hudson sarcastically states.

"_Pendejo_ jerkoff," Vasquez mutters.

…

The APC moves through the deserted streets of the colony, eventually arriving at the South Lock. The door opens, and Gorman, Burke, and Ripley step out into the rain and the mud. Ripley looks around as Gorman and Burke walk straight to the imposing metal composite door where Hicks, Frost and Drake stand waiting.

"Sir, we got the CPU online, no problem," Hudson announces with confidence over the radio.

"Good, stand by in Operations. Mils, wait for us outside Medlab," Gorman orders.

"Copy, second squad standing by," Mils reports.

"Okay, let's go," Gorman calls out, and as Bishop himself exits from the APC's driver side compartment and runs over to the group, the Marines and Burke move into the building. Ripley halts just a few fet short of the entrance, hesitant and fearful of entering into what she knows is an unsafe location. She knows that more than bad memories await her here.

Hicks and Frost both take notice of this, and Hicks walks over with concern on his face. "Are you all right?" he asks genuinely. Ripley is silent for a few moments, before she answers.

"Yes..." she replies, nodding though, in all honesty, every fiber of her being was telling her to turn around and wait in the APC, or even somehow find a way back to the ship thousands of miles above them in orbit. Gathering her wits and her courage against the terror she feels in this place, she follows the Marines into the complex as the door behind them closes with a final thud.

Gorman moves through several obstacles, passing through a makeshift barricade, seemingly made out of materials from around the colony including pipes, metallic wall panels, and even pieces of machinery. Despite their apparent strength, the barriers look as if they were hit with a battering ram or two.

Gorman is joined by the others as Drake comes to meet them. "Sir...they sealed off this wing at both ends, welded the doors, and blocked off the stairs with heavy equipment" he reports.

"Uh huh," Gorman audibly nods as Drake continues, with Ripley looking at the destruction with wide eyes.

"But, it looks like, uh, the barricade didn't hold."

"Any bodies?" Gorman asks.

"No, sir." Drake replies, shaking his head.

"Last stand," Frost comments, looking at the scene.

"Must have been a helluva fight, " Drake comments further.

"Yeah...looks that way," Hicks agrees, though his expression betrays the reluctance he feels at the discussion. Something about the combat scene tugs at his instincts, suggesting more is going on than has been noticed so far, but he dismisses the feeling in his gut and continues onward.

"Alright, Drake, this way. We should be able to cut through the Medlab to Operations, and we'll touch base with Mils on the way," Gorman says as the squad plus Ripley, Burke and Bishop move towards Medlab. Only a short time later do they encounter Mils and his team as they wait outside the medical wing of the colony, snapping to attention when Gorman and the others arrive.

"Lieutenant?" Mils greets him, nodding.

"Anything?" Gorman asks.

"No sir, not even any rats. We wanted to wait till you got here to go in," Mils reports.

"Alright," Gorman nods, "according to the schematics, there are two sections of Medlab - one for patient holding, the other for observation. We'll cut through the observation ward to get to Operations. Mils, I want you to take your team into patient holding and conduct a sweep for survivors. Once you're done, move to observation, and if you encounter anything let me know."

"Aye, sir. Alright ladies, let's do this," Mils says, nodding at Stone and Vasquez to move, the latter leading the way into patient holding with her smartgun held vertical. Gorman's team moves to observation, Drake leading the way with his smartgun, ready to blast something into Swiss cheese.

Mils and his team scan the surroundings, on edge slightly as they take in the fact that, even with every one of the two dozen beds showing no signs of use, there could be seen some signs of struggle with several beds flipped over. Curiously, there is no visible blood, nor are there any bodies belonging to the colonists. A door opens on the far side, and they file through, slowly turning left into a much larger room filled with what appear to be cryogenic capsules.

"I don't remember these being on the schematics," Mils observes.

"Well, maybe...maybe they ran into a storage problem, trying to help a lot of people at once, or they had to put some people in cryo to stop any infections from spreading?" Stone theorizes, looking at a few of the empty cryochambers.

"Or store bodies," Vasquez grimly says. She casts her gaze around the room and spots a lone working cryochamber. Curious, she moves her smartgun over to her right side on its steadicam rig and slowly approaches the capsule, looking for any identifying features or signs of damage that might indicate an integrity breach. On closer inspection she sees telltales blinking dimly on and off, and what normally would be a clear faceplate is frosted over.

"Mils, get over here, we might have a live one," Vasquez calls out over her shoulder. Mils and Stone take notice and slowly follow her towards the suspect chamber.

"Sparks, check out the console," Mils orders, and Stone begins moving towards the console almost parallel to the chamber. She types a few commands as the console begins to boot up, and finally the status screen comes to life with a command menu.

...

EMERGENCY CRYOSTASIS CHAMBER 11

PLEASE SELECT AN OPTION

1: OCCUPANT INFORMATION

2: CHAMBER CONTROLS

[1]

OCCUPANT INFORMATION SELECTED

OCCUPANT NAME: UNKNOWN

OCCUPANT AGE: UNKNOWN

OCCUPANT WEIGHT: 110

OCCUPANT HEIGHT: 6'0

PHYSICAL CONDITION: STABLE

INJURIES: ACID BURN TO LEFT FOREARM, TREATED.

DURATION OF STASIS: 24 DAYS

...

"Stretch? Whoever's inside the chamber, she's okay, medically stable. Her bioreadouts are all within parameters for someone in cryostasis - she's been in there for over three weeks," Stone reports.

"How long exactly?" Mils queries.

"24 days."

"That was just before we got the message to ship out," Vasquez points out, her eyes wide with understanding. .

"You said _she_? Did it say who sleeping beauty is?" Mils says motioning toward the chamber, Stone shakes her head.

"No...it gives me some basic stats, her weight and height...pretty tall gal, she's just over six foot," Stone finishes, this sends a shiver down Mils' spine, he looks at Stone expediently.

"Six feet tall, what was her weight?"

"Uh...110 ppounds"

"Oh my God," Mils gasps in possible recognition. "Ash, find a way to open it."

"We don't know who it is, you sure it's a good idea?" Stone asks.

"I have a fairly good idea who it is," Mils says cryptically, causing Stone and Vasquez to exchange puzzled looks.

"Alright, opening chamber," Stone says as she types some commands into the console.

...

[2]

CHAMBER CONTROLS SELECTED

1\. BEGIN OCCUPANT AWAKENING PROTOCOL

2\. FLUSH CHAMBER

3\. ELEVATE INTERNAL TEMPERATURE BY 0.5° PER SECOND TO 22°C

[1]

BEGINNING OCCUPANT AWAKENING PROTOCOL

FLUSHING CRYOGENIC GASES

ELEVATING INTERNAL TEMPERATURE TO TARGET 22°C

ETA: 30 SECONDS

...

The lights within the chamber turn on as the frost on the window slowly starts to dissipate, revealing the face of Dr. Elizabeth Ripley, safe and sound.

"Oh my God, it's her. She's alive!" Mils says as he presses an impatient hand on the glass of the chamber. The chamber then slowly splits open, and Mils rushes across to his sister's side, waiting expectantly for her to wake up.

"Ellie? Come on Elizabeth, I didn't come here just to hear you snore...wake up!" Mils says with a shaky voice, something both Vasquez and Stone haven't heard before. He grabs her shoulder and starts to shake her gently.

Slowly Elizabeth's eyes open. She appears very dazed and confused, as anyone would be after taking a 24-day cat nap. She looks around trying to get her bearings, and her eyes finally lock onto those of her brother.

"Chrissy?" she asks groggily. Mils blushes a little at the name, but is otherwise very relieved.

"Oh thank God!" Mils sighs, laying a hand on her shoulder.

"Chrissy!" Elizabeth says as she hugs her brother tightly, almost knocking him over. She keeps holding Mils, not breaking the embrace, while the memories of what had happened before she began her hibernation, and the faces of Hollens, Ward, and her best friend Dillon come flashing back to her, she lets the waterfall of tears begin to run down her cheeks as she silently weeps from the trauma of the experience. Mils takes notice of his sister's somewhat fragile state of mind - he rarely was in this situation when they were growing up, her sister admittedly being a little bit of a tomboy, and he had only ever had to hold her like this on a few occasions, the two most recent being the deaths of their parents.

"It's okay Ellie, it's okay," Mils says as he unconsciously rubs his sister's back. He looks up at Vasquez and Stone, who are still perplexed that the usually laidback yet lethal Mils was now in the position of comforting his sister. They both nod towards their squadmate and move towards patient holding.

"Come on Vas..." Stone says as the pair give the two siblings some time alone, or at least some time to catch up after what feels like an eternity apart.


	9. Chapter 8: Contact

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Chapter 8: Contact**

In the observation section of the Med Lab, Drake leads the small team of marines into the dark and blandly lit hallway, Ellen however notices something in a separate office, as she approaches the open doorway into said office she sees in almost disbelief something she thought or rather she prayed she wouldn't see, several of the same parasites that had attached to her late crewmember Kane's face, the same that planted the egg holding the creature into him, the same parasite that had begun the viscous cycle of death that would lead to the death of her entire crew, said parasites are all in containers, three of which have a paler complexion than the remaining three. Hicks notices also had noticed what Ripley sees, he grabs her arm causing her to jump, allowing himself into the room first as precaution.

"Lieutenant? Gorman?!" Hicks lightly yells over his shoulder, the rest of the group soon arrive, with Burke, Gorman and Bishop moving into the room with Hicks, Burke turns toward Ripley who stand near the doorway.

"Are those the same ones?" he asks with Ripley nodding the answer, Burke gets closer to one of the containers.

"Careful Burke!" Ripley advises, but he only looks back at her briefly and continues moving forward towards the container, suddenly the parasite moves with it's "Mouth" pressing up against the glass and it's tail moving around frantically, this causes Burke and Ripley to jump with sharp gasps, Hicks smirks, slightly amused by the situation.

"Looks like love at first sight to me..." Hicks says, as Burke looks back nervously on the parasite.

"Oh yeah he likes you Burke..." he continues as Bishop and Gorman investigate, Bishop hands Gorman a clipboard containing some details of the parasites.

"Three are alive, the rest are dead..." Bishop says as he looks through the papers in front of him.

"Surgically removed before embryo implantation, Subject: Marachuk, John J. Died during the procedure..." he continues

"I don't understand..." Gorman states

"They killed him taking it off..." Bishop concludes

"Ripley did that happen with your crewmember?" Gorman asks, it takes a moment for her to answer.

"Umm...sort of, that was the main concern, it was so well attached to his face that my Captain and...science officer were afraid it would tear his scalp and face off if they tried to remove it..." Ripley explains recounting the decades old memories.

"That looks to have happened here unfortunately..." Bishop adds, suddenly the motion tracker Frost's holding comes to life with a beep.

"Yo Hicks? I think we got something here..." Frost says as Drake tenses up, the rest of the group approaches the pair.

"Behind us..." Hicks says

"One of us?" Ripley asks

"Mils, Apone? Where are your people? Anyone in D-Block near Medical Observation" Gorman asks

"Sir, Stone here! The three of us are still in patient holding." Stone says through the radio

"Apone?"

"That's a negative we're all in operations..." Apone answers, with this Drake moves quickly in front of Frost who directs him towards the potential contact, the whole groups moves slowly in formation down the dark hallway.

"Talk to me Frosty.." Drake says looking at his squadmate.

"Just keep moving baby..." Frost says, Hicks and Drake prepare their weapons as the beeping gets louder, as Ripley and Gorman move around a desk inadvertently knocking a thermos over causing both of them to jump, the three marines turn around with raised eyebrows, before turning back towards the hallway in front of them, the potential contact begins to move towards them.

"It's moving." Hicks says

"Which way? Drake asks as the grip on his smartgun tightens.

"It's coming straight for us. Straight up." Frost says as the beeping gets louder and louder, suddenly a shadow jumps out in front of them as Drake opens fire, however his aim is thrown off when Hicks slams his pulse rifle into his smartgun causing him to fire into the ceiling.

"You fuck!" Drake says in anger.

"Hold up!" Hicks yells back, he looks back at Ripley.

"Ripley..." he says as he waves her forward, she slowly comes to the front of the group, curious as to why Hicks requested her presence, he waves her over to a group of steel cabinets. Once she is there what Hicks' light reveals is truly shocking, a young girl maybe as old as eight looks up almost emotionlessly at Ripley and Hicks, Ripley's motherly instincts kick in almost immediately.

"Hey...shh it's okay. it's okay...it's alright, come on. Easy, Easy." Ripley says in her soothing tune, as Hicks slowly reaches for her, the girl slowly moves away as his hand approaches.

"Just grab her Corporal..." Gorman says impatiently.

"Don't be afraid. Come on. We won't hurt you. Shhh, it's alright. It's okay..." Ripley says continually trying to sooth the child, who looks scared to death of something, and not essentially the heavily armed in front of her.

"I've got her..." Hicks says however, just as his hand reaches her the child does something unexpected, she bites Hicks' hand like a startled cat.

"Owwww...damn it!" Hicks hisses as the child darts away from them, moving under the floor panels.

"Watch her!" Gorman orders as if the child is armed. The group chases her as Ripley leads the group searching for her.

"Don't let her go!" Ripley yells as the lights from the group dash around almost as fast as the child.

"She's under the grill!" Hicks yells

"Frost, use your lantern. Frost, get your light up here!" Gorman yells, as Frost finally pinpoints the location of the child.

"Right here!" he says as Ripley and Hicks approach him from behind.

"Where'd she go?" Ripley asks concerned.

"She's on the other side of us!" Hicks points out.

"Down here! Here! Here!" Bishop says shining his light.

"Here!" Frost yells

"There she is!" Gorman says clearly irritated.

"Keep back! Keep back! Don't scare her!" Ripley yells as she gets closer to the child.

"Grab her, man! We're going to loose her!" Hicks warns, the child scuttles into a nearby air duct, into darkness. Ripley grabs Bishop's flashlight.

"Damn it!" she says as she dives into the air duct after the girl.

"Wait! Wait!" Ripley yells chasing after the girl in the dark duct, something her would be son in law and Daughter did plenty of times during their adventures through the years.

The duct eventually leads to a large room, a dumping ground for debris, discarded food packages, and other forms of waste. The girl moves into the room and moves to close the grill behind her, Ripley pushes the grill open as gently as she can, the girl dashes to the other end of the room, she's cornered and cowering in silent fear.

"It's okay. It's alright, don't be afraid...don't be afraid" Ripley says entering the room, looking around in disbelief at the large area of disarray around her. She sees a necklace, a pearl necklace and picks it up hoping to use it as a decoy to trap the girl in some way.

She holds up the necklace, and uses it to trap the child in trance of sorts.

"See...it's okay" Ripley says, however the child is keeping an equally conditioned eye on a vent to her right, she dives for said hatch, Ripley "tackles" her when she does this.

"Wait! No, you don't!" she says trapping the girl in a hug/restraining hold, trying to get the clearly terrified child, the child kicks and screams as if in a bad dream.

"It's okay! Everything is going to be alright now! Shhhhh! Easy, easy...it's going to be okay. It's alright, your going to be okay...Shhhh, shh, easy...it's alright...I've got you..." Ripley says as the girl slowly begins to calm down, Ripley sees something on the ground and picks it up with her free hand, it looks to be a award of some sort

_SECOND GRADE CITIZENSHIP AWARD...REBECCA JORDAN_

Ripley utilizes her natural motherly instincts to try to keep the girl calm, stroking her hair from time to time, after a few moments herself and the girl still in her arms walk back up the vent, eventually coming back to the group she had only left a few moments ago...

"Here she is!" Hicks says as she offers a free hand, which Ripley shakes away politely.

"Good...she can finally answer some questions..." Gorman says coldly

"I've got her" Ripley says protectively.

"Alright...let's move back to operations, Mils you and your squad meets us there!" Gorman orders marching off, Ripley follows with Hicks and Bishop close behind.

"Kid's a fighter...glad I didn't smoke her..." Drake says under her breath

"I hear that..." Frost replies as the team moves back to operations.

….

In the manger's office of the operations office, Mils and his sister were currently catching up with his sister enjoying a cup of coffee, as she sits on a table.

"How do you feel?" he asks

"Like I partied at Bourbon Street, Bonaroo, and Woodstock all in the same night..." Elizabeth responds

"So..."

"Like shit Chrissy...thanks for the coffee though, glad to see you still remember..." she says as she takes another sip.

"I try...Ell? Do you remember anything?"

"Yeah...it's clearing up slowly, but surely...I can't believe I'm the only one left..."

"We don't know that yet...we've haven't completed our sweep yet..."

"True...I guess I'm just letting the sudden cryo get to me..."

"How exactly did you end up in there anyway?"

"We had a plan to use the cryochambers we had to try and keep people safe, the wounded and...the children, the Chief of security Ward, he threw me in there to protect me...bastard…playing the hero"

"Well I got a bad feeling my CO's gonna bombard you with questions so just prepare yourself..." Mils says holding his helmet at his side, he then remembers something.

"Oh before I forget...figured you might need this..." he says, handing his sister her family heirloom, the shotgun.

"Oh you found it...thank God...I won't forgive myself if I left it...it would have come in handy earlier..." Elizabeth says as she holds and inspects the weapon in front of her.

"Fully loaded?"

"You know Mom and Dad always told us to keep on our toes, and always have a full clip..." Mils says

"Very true..." Elizabeth says, just then Ellen still holding Rebecca walks into the office with Gorman and Dietrich (the squad's medical tech) in tow.

"Oh my God they found someone..." Elizabeth says staring at the young girl in disbelief, her eyes get even bigger when (after placing Rebecca down) Ellen turns around.

"Chrissy? Is that...her?" Elizabeth asks

"Yeah...Ellen Ripley, the woman from the past..." Mils says as Elizabeth fights a laugh.

"Oh god...what do I say?"

"Let her do the introduction, that's what I did...kind of"

"She looks so much like Mom..." Elizabeth points out as Ellen walks up to them.

"Well she was Ellen's daughter..." Mils points out, Ellen looks at Mils

"Glad to see you're alright Christopher…" Ellen says, Mils nods in appreciation, Ellen then turns to look at the woman sitting on the table, beside him, her eyes slightly widen and tear up a little as sitting before her is her granddaughter Elizabeth, Elizabeth herself is just shocked to be seeing her grandmother in the flesh.

"You definitely take after your mother Elizabeth...though you have my curly hair." Ellen says getting slightly emotional.

"Yeah...I can see where we got our looks from...I'm glad to finally meet you, Mom always talked about you, she never stopped looking..." Elizabeth replies with tears coming into her eyes.

"I know...I'm glad you're safe...Ell" Ellen says using the nickname Mils often uses for his sister, while placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Me too..." Mils says placing a hand on the other side of his sister's shoulder, as the three share a tender moment, said tender moment is then almost immediately interrupted by Gorman who demands Ripley's presence.

"Ripley need you over here!" Gorman asks.

"Which one?" Mils says sarcastically under his breath.

"I do have medical training..." Elizabeth says as she hops down off the table and follows her grandmother over to Gorman's position, with Dietrich inspecting Rebecca, seeing as if she's suffering from any disease or injury.

"Anything Dietrich?" Gorman asks

"No sir...nothing showing up right now anyway..." Dietrich answers looking down at her portable console, Elizabeth asks her a question as she walks up.

"Does she have a temperature?" she asks with Gorman and Dietrich looking at her a little skeptically.

"Um..sorry, Doctor Elizabeth Ripley...I have some experience with sick colonial kids..." Elizabeth says trying to be friendly, Gorman immediately cuts her off.

"Dietrich's our team medical spec, we don't need the same things repeated...besides I want to talk to you Doctor" he says rufly. Elizabeth gives him a nasty look.

"What's her name again?" He asks no one in particular, but slightly turns himself toward Ripley.

"Rebecca..." Ellen answers

"Alright...Now think, Rebecca. Concentrate. Just start at the beginning. Where are your parents?..." Gorman says as Rebecca just keeps looking off into space, completely unresponsive.

"Look Rebecca if you just..." Gorman continues, but is interrupted by Ellen.

"Gorman, give it a rest, why don't you?" Ellen states, Gorman looks at both her and Rebecca totally frustrated.

"Total brainlock….anything Dietrich?" Gorman says clearly frustrated.

"Physically she's okay...Borderline malnutrition, but otherwise no permenant damage" Dietrich says standing up and taking all of her equipment with her.

"Come on we're wasting our time..." Gorman says as he leaves briskly with Dietrich following him, Elizabeth and Ellen tend to the needs of the girl, Elizabeth hands Ellen a cup of hot chocolate.

"Here...should brighten her spirits a little" Elizabeth whispers, Ellen kneels down looking up at Rebecca.

"Try this...it's a little hot chocolate" Ellen soothingly says as the child slowly sips on the warm beverage.

"There you go..." she continues as the child slowly chugs the chocolate, with a little of the chocolate dripping down the girl's chin.

"Whoop, that good huh?..." Elizabeth says as she grabs a napkin to wash the girl's chin clean.

"I think you made a clean spot there Elizabeth ..." Ellen points out with a smile.

"Now I've done it! Guess we'll have to do the whole thing, won't we?" Elizabeth responds

"Yep!" Ellen replies as she and Elizabeth begin to clean the face of the girl in front of them.

"Hard to believe there's a little girl under all this..." Elizabeth states

"And a pretty one too..." Ellen points out as the face of the young girl is finally revealed, but yet Rebecca stays silent.

"You don't talk much do you?" Elizabeth states.

…

The rest of the squad, minus the two Ripley's are all gathered near the computers, where Hudson is going to work trying to locate any survivors. Gorman leans over his shoulder.

"Smoking or non-smoking?" Hudson says humorously.

"Just tell me what your looking for Private..." Gorman groans, Burke joins into the conversation.

"PDT's, Personal Data Transmitters, every colonist had one surgically implemented..." he explains as one dot already appears in their area.

"See...that's um, her" Burke says motioning to Elizabeth, Hudson and the men of the squad all look equally interested. Mils all gives them the kind of look a protective brother would give any guy checking out his sister, to which they all look nervous, or perhaps even scared.

"If they're within 20 clicks, we'll read it out here. So far, zippo..." Hudson continues.

…

Close by Ellen and Elizabeth continue to try to peel back the layers of the young girl in front of them.

"I don't know how you managed to stay alive, but you're one brave kid, Rebecca..." Ellen says, suddenly the child mutters something.

"Newt..." she says barely audible to human ears.

"What did you say?..." Elizabeth says slightly shocked at the sudden reaction, Rebecca doesn't say anything for a few moments as both women move closer

"Newt...my n-name's Newt. Nobody calls me Rebecca except my brother..." she finally says

"Newt...I like that name...I'm Ellen...this is Elizabeth ...it's nice to meet you.." Ellen says, Elizabeth picks up the small head of a doll that Newt's been holding.

"and who is this, huh?" she asks

"Casey..." Newt quietly responds

"Hello Miss. Casey." Elizabeth responds nicely, nodding towards the doll.

"Newt? What about your brother, what's his name?" Ellen asks

"Timmy..." Newt responds robotically

"Is Timmy around here too? Maybe hiding like you were?" Ellen suggests/asks, Newt seems to close up, almost like she's remembering something perfectly and horrifically.

"Any sisters?" Elizabeth asks trying to aid Ellen.

"Mom and Dad?" Ellen adds, Newt nods slightly

"Newt, look at us...where are they?" Ellen continues lifting the girl's chin to look at the two women.

"There Dead! Alright?! Can I go now!" Newt yells suddenly causing both women to jump, Elizabeth looks down in slight shame remembering that Newt's father was the "first to go" amongst Hadley's dead, she whispers something to Ellen.

"Her father was the first to die, he had a parasite of some sort on his face..." Elizabeth silently states, Ellen turns around and her granddaughter nods regretfully, Ellen turns back towards Newt.

"I'm sorry, Newt. Don't you think you'd be safer here with us?" she asks, Newt quickly shakes her head "NO".

"These people are here to protect you...they're soldiers...see that one over there? That's my brother, and he won't let anything happen to us..." Elizabeth adds.

"It won't make any difference…" Newt says darkly...Gorman and Mils approach from behind.

"Sir, she might need some more time to recuperate...she was just taken out of cryo!" Mils stresses as Gorman marches towards his sister.

"Corporal I usually wouldn't allow NCO's to sway my opinion, so just thank me for allowing you to listen in...now Miss Ripley..." Gorman begins.

"Doctor!" Mils and Elizabeth both say simultaneously say, it was a major _pet-peeve _of his sister's to not be called by her official title, Gorman continues with a grunt.

"Right...Doctor Ripley, as of right now you are the only surviving member of the Colony's staff, I need you to give us an information you can on what happened...and please concentrate, and be exact with your information..." Gorman states in a commanding voice.

"Alright...um some time ago...I guess three weeks maybe a little longer, a prospect team led by Russ and Anne Jorden...Newt..um Rebecca's parents. They were given intelligence of a _possible derelict_, out in the...well we call them the _badlands_ because it's on the outer edge of the surveyed territory beyond the colony. They found a...ship." Elizabeth begins, this catches Ellen's attention.

"What kind of ship" Gorman asks.

"His wife described it to others as...like a giant horseshoe, with the tips pointing outwards towards space..." Elizabeth continues, this sends a chill down Ellen's spine as it's the same description that Andrew used to describe the same ship when the _Nostromo_ crew found it.

"Next thing we knew back here, was that Anne had called in a Mayday...Russ had been attacked by some sort of parasite...it attached to his face...she brought him back to quarantine..." Elizabeth states, this results in Ellen asking a question.

"What did it look like?"

"It's hard to describe...like a cross between a spider and crab, it had a long tail and legs...it latched onto his face...so strongly that when we tried to remove it...it started to tear at his hair and scalp...then when we tried to cut the legs of it off...it bled...acid...Carborane acid to be exact...some splashed on my arm, we tried to clean it up, but the damage was done." Elizabeth says holding up her bandaged arm.

"Jesus...Ell, how bad?" Mils asks immediately concerned for his sister's health.

"Third degree burn by the looks of it...needed to use Grade Five burn ointment..."

"What a trooper..." Mils says under his breath holding his sister's bandaged arm.

"Please continue Doctor!" Gorman says impatiently as Mils steps away.

"Right so...shortly after the parasite died, falling off on it's own, we found it near an air vent, or one our nurses did...the thing fell on her...shortly afterwards Russ woke up, no worse for ware...he didn't really have any memory of what had happened...then he...started to cough and convulse, then the... Xenomorph burst through his chest, killing him obviously...it then escaped through the air vents..." Elizabeth describes in vivid detail, Mils and Ellen look at each other concerned, Mils from a tactical standpoint on maybe having to deal with such a organism, while Ellen is being hit with a wave of deadly nostalgia. Gorman's gaze remains steely.

"What else happened? How did the colony fall?"

"Shortly after Russ' death, Simpson the head of the colony was holding a meeting, the Xenomorph took him, right into the vents..."

"There was only one?" Ellen asks honestly.

"That's what we thought...but the news of the Jorden's derelict had gotten out, several other prospect teams went out to it, they never came back...within a few days we were attacked at the front gate, Ward our chief of security tried to rally a defense, his men were massacred one by one...the xenomorphs got in to the colony that way... I lost Val...shortly after, she was killed in an explosion." Elizabeth says hushing back a sob.

"Jesus...I'm sorry Ell..." Mils says placing a hand on his sister's shoulder.

"Me and Ward moved to Medical...he shoved me into one of the chambers we were using to hide the wounded...next thing I remember is Chris waking me up..." Elizabeth finishes.

"So we're dealing with how many of these...things..." Gorman asks

"I don't know more than...we had a lot of missing colonists, I can't be sure..."

"Roughly! Doctor!"

"At least 20...maybe more..."

"We can handle them, the sooner we face them the better!" Gorman says as he begins to walk away.

"Hang on that isn't all!" Elizabeth says trying to get his attention, it's no use.

"He's definitely a Lewy...too overconfident not to be..." Mils says as he turns towards the two Ripley women.

"He needs to listen more! I've seen what one of these things can do...if there are 20 I don't want to even think about it!" Ellen says returning to Newt.

"We'll be alright, we're trained for worse case scenarios after all..." Mils states

"Yeah, but this is worse than the worse case scenario, I just hope you find someone else...I can't be the only one left..." Elizabeth says looking down, Mils lifts her head up by the chin with his hand.

"Hey, what did Mom and Dad always say?" Mils asks, his sister smirks with the reply.

"Never lose hope..."

"That's my Ell...I'll be back.." Mils says marching off towards his squad's position. Ellen walks back up with a fresh cup of coffee.

"He's so much like your grandfather." she says handing her granddaughter the coffee.

"What was he like?"

"I imagine a lot like your father, quiet, stoic and respectful to a fault sometimes..."

"Umm...yeah Dad was a little more loud, adventurous and flirty. Only with mom of course..."

"I'm sure I would've liked him...Chris definitely is as handsome as Andrew..."

"Um...Ellen? Do you mind if I ask you a question?"

"Of course..."

"Did you and Grandad ever...ya know..."

"No we never got the chance...we shared some nice moments during that time...nothing truly romantic, but still nice. I miss him...I wish he was here..."

"Did you love him?"

"Yes...I guess I did feel something for him. We never got a chance to continue what we had on the _Nostromo_." Ellen admits looking down.

"He'll be awake soon, hopefully by the time we get back."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to never lose hope." Ellen says with a smirk.

…

Back in the medical section of the colony, Bishop is examining one of the parasites, one of the dead ones anyway. He appears to be dissecting it, almost showing an eerily similar interest to that of android's of the past. Spunkmeyer moves some extra equipment in on a small dolly, he glances over at Bishop's work.

"Need anything else?" Spunkmeyer asks genuinely, Bishop turns around staring blankly at him.

"Hello Bishop, do you need anything else?" he asks again.

"No...thank you." Bishop states trying to be friendly or at least somewhat friendly, Spunkmeyer glances over his shoulder at the parasite.

"That's a nice pet you've got there, Bishop..." Spunkmeyer says with sarcasm running like venom through his veins.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Bishop asks not aware of the sarcasm.

"Oh yeah...Ferro on my way back..." Spunkmeyer states into his radio walking away.

….

In the operations center, the monitor Hudson is working on, comes to life with multiple PDT contacts.

"Yo! Stop your grinnin' and drop your linen! Found 'em!" Hudson says triumphantly, as Gorman marches back into the room.

"They alive?!" Gorman says showing concern.

"Unknown. It looks like all of them...at least a large chunk of them. Over at the processing station...Sub-Level 3...under the main cooling towers..." Hudson reports

"Looks like a goddamn town meeting..." Hicks points out

"Yeah you said it man..." Mils

"Sir? Your orders?" Apone asks munching on his cigar.

"Let's saddle up, Apone." Gorman says turning to him.

"Aye, sir. Alright, let's go people, they ain't payin' us by the hour. Let's go! Head 'em out! Okay, Frost. Bishop's staying here so your drivin'..." Apone barks as the squads move out, Mils runs to inform his sister, he gently moves towards the two woman, and little girl.

"Ell? Ellen? Sorry to interrupt they found em!" Mils says Elizabeth immediately hops up with hope in her face.

"All of them? Where?" she asks

"Main cooling towers...they're all bunched together, looks like they've taken shelter." Mils states as Gorman suddenly moves into the room.

"We're moving out...Ripley...I want you and the girl in the APC with us now!" Gorman orders.

"Are you sure it's a good idea Gorman?" Ellen protests

"She can help us when we find the colonists, may even find someone she knows!" Gorman adds, Ellen and Newt reluctantly follow him towards the APC, Elizabeth however doesn't move.

"What's up Ell?" Mils asks looking at his sister.

"I don't like this Chrissy...why would they all be in one spot...it doesn't make sense..." Elizabeth stresses

"No it doesn't, but it's the best lead we've had..."

"In any case I'm staying here, I'm gonna keep the lights on, and get medical ready should any of the colonists be wounded..." she explains.

"I don't know Ell..."

"Look your friend Bishop's gonna keep me company...and I've got this..." Elizabeth says as she holds up the family shotgun.

"Alright, but please be safe Ell...I just got you back..." Mils says pulling his sister into a one armed hug...

"Jeez, always a hugger even after all these years...be safe Chrissy!" Elizabeth says as her brother moves towards the APC.

….

The APC steadily races down the dirt and debris filled gravel road leading to the processing station, inside the APC Newt soothes her doll Casey, as Ripley, Gorman and Burke look intensely at the monitors in front of them.

"It's okay. Don't worry. It'll be okay." She whispers, as the APC passes through entrance number 31, coming to stop once inside, the exterior lights turn off, as the marines exit in standard formation with both Vasquez and Drake leading the way.

"I want a straight B-Deployment. Second team on the left flank. Advance on axial six-six-four. Tracker on-line, set the V-gain to filter RF ambient..." Gorman orders over the radio.

"Hudson, tracker online, left and right little buddy" Apone orders

"Forty meters in, bearing two-two-one, there should be a stairwell..." Gorman continues as the squad aims down a small hallway.

"Check! Got it!" Apone says motioning the squad forward.

"You want sub-level 3..." Gorman instructs as they move towards the stairway.

"Let's go people. Stretch, you get the point. Hudson on his ass. Hicks, watch our tails. Nice and easy. Check those corners..." Apone cautiously orders, as Mils and Hudson move down the stairs

"Check those corners..." Mils mutters

"Watch your spacing..." Gorman orders

"Alright, you heard the man. Don't bunch up...stay loose!" Apone barks, as interference and static begin to plague the monitor feed back on the APC.

"Uh...your transmission's showing a lot of breakup..."

"Probably getting some interference from the structure" Hudson suggests

"Watch those lights." Apone orders as Gorman looks at the layout of the structure.

"Next one down...then proceed on a two-one-six." Gorman states

"Roger that's a two-one-six." Apone responds, as the marines make their way closer to the colonists, the infrastructure of the structure however begins to slowly change into something more...alien.

"I'm not making that out too well...what is that, Hudson?" Gorman says

"You tell me man...I only work here!" Hudson responds sarcastically, the marines slowly move inside, all not knowing what to think of what exactly they're looking at.

"What is that?" Gorman asks Ellen.

"I don't know"

"Proceed inside!" Gorman orders, slightly nervous, the marines all slowly move through the tight corridors, all covered with some sort of substance, Vasquez with Mils in tow moves through one with her smartgun drawn.

"Watch your firing and check your targets. Remember, we're looking for civvies in here!" Apone slowly stresses.

"Tighten it up Frost, we're getting a little thin!" Hicks says

"Keep on my ass Hudson, Sparks, Crowe!...maintain intervals" Mils orders looking over his shoulder.

"Nice and easy..." Apone says, Dietrich meanwhile snaps a piece of the wall off, feeling it's material on her fingers.

"Looks like some sort of secreted resin." Dietrich states.

"Yeah, but secreted from what?" Hicks asks no one in particular.

"Nobody! Touch! Nothing!" Apone orders.

Ellen, and the others look on from inside the APC.

"Busy little creature's huh?" Burke asks similarly.

"Hot as hell in here!" Frost states

"Yeah man...it's a dry heat." Hudson states

"Knock it off Hudson..." Apone orders as they continue to move, looking over the building overlay a thought pops into Ellen's head.

"Lieutenant, what do those pulse-rifles fire?" she asks Gorman

"10mm explosive-tip caseless, standard light-armor piercing rounds. Why?"

"Well, look where your team is, they're right under the primary heat exchangers."

"So?"

"So, if they fire their weapons in there, won't they rupture the cooling systems?" She asks as Burke injects himself into the conversation.

"Ho...yeah, she's absolutely right."

"So? So what?"

"Look, this whole station is basically a big fusion reactor. Right? So, we're talking about a thermonuclear explosion and adios muchachos." Burke explains.

"Oh...ah great! Wonderful...shhhit!...look uh...Apone!" Gorman says into his headset, Apone snaps his fingers to get the rest of the squad's attention.

"We can't have any firing in there! I uh want you to collect magazines from everybody!" Gorman orders, causing the marines to look at eachother in shock.

"Is he fucking crazy?!" Hudson asks

"He's gotta be...no way Sarge!" Stone states

"What the hell are we supposed to use, man? Harsh language?" Frost asks just as surprised as everyone else.

"Well we've got plenty of that to go around" Mils says under his breath.

"Flame-units only! I want rifles slung." Gorman continues.

"Sir, I..." Apone begins to respond, but is cut off by Gorman.

"Just do it, Sergeant...and no grenades.." Gorman barks, after a few moments Apone surrenders, asking for his fellow marines magazines.

"Alright, sweethearts, you heard the man. Pull 'em out. Come on...let's have 'em. Come on, Vasquez. Clear and lock!" Apone yells taking everyone's respective magazines as well as the smartgun's batteries, Vasquez however, behind Apone's back hands Drake a spare battery for their smart guns she's been hiding.

"Right on Vas!" Drake mutters, as Vasquez smirks, Apone continues down the line.

"You too, give it up Speedy. Come on. Let's go, Crowe I want it now. Give it up!" Apone says arriving at Frost and Hicks.

"Let's go Marine. Give it up. Frost, you got the duty. Open that bag." Apone orders as he loads all the magazines into Frost's bag.

"Thanks a lot, Sarge!" Frost sarcastically states.

"Hicks!" Cover our ass. Head 'em out people!" Apone orders, Hicks grabs something off his back, it's an old school shotgun, similar to Elizabeth 's family heirloom.

"I like to keep this handy for close encounters..." He says as he pumps it.

"I hear that!" Frost says pulling out his pistol.

"Ditto..." Mils says pulling out his revolver like an ocelot (MGS reference), much to the awe of Stone.

"That was hot..." she mutters, as the squad continues to move, still nothing arrives on Hudson's tracker.

"Any movement?" Gorman asks

"Nothing...zip!" Hudson responds, however as they move more into the chamber, they look up in horror as they see something only nightmares could create, the Colonists aren't there alive, they've been taken, and hung all over the place like ornaments, being placed on the walls of the chamber, many of them with open chest wounds, incredibly similar to those sustained by Kane, back on the Nostromo.

"Holy shit!" Apone says looking at one colonist, Ellen's bone chill at seeing the sight, but she also goes into to protective mode of Newt.

"Newt, go sit up front, go on...NOW!" she yells, Newt obliges, next to the squad are open eggs, similar to the ones found on the Derelict, Hicks picks up with his shotgun one of the parasites, stiff and lifeless, he shakes it off when Apone orders a movement.

"Steady people. Let's finish our sweep...We're still marines and we've got a job to do. Keep it movin'...easy!" Apone says, the squad passes single file near a guardrail revealing at least a fifty foot drop, Vasquez looks down the gapping hole as Dietrich investigates a "cocooned" colonist to her left, as she lifts the head of said colonist woman's head, her eyes open up, slightly startling Dietrich.

"Top!" she yells

"What?!" Apone asks

"Top, we've got a live one...you're going to be alright. Your going to be alright!" Dietrich yells trying to sooth the clearly terrified woman.

"Please...kill me!" she pleads.

"Just stay calm...we're going to get you out of here!" Dietrich continues to calm the woman down.

"Uh...sir we've got a survivor here!" Apone reports.

"It's going to be alright. Give me a hand. We gotta get her outta here!" Dietrich states.

"Hudson...Dietrich, what's going on?" Frost asks coming up from the rear, suddenly the woman begins to cough and convulse.

"Convulsion!" Dietrich yells, as the woman screams in pain. Ellen looks on in horror, with memories from Kane's death filling her mind.

"Dietrich get back! Get back!" Apone orders pulling his medic away from the woman, as suddenly a newborn xenomorph bursts through her chest, Ellen gasping a "no!" clutching at her chest.

"Frost! Flamethrower let's go!" Apone yells as himself and Dietrich aim for the creature with their flamethrowers.

"Kill it man!" Hudson yells

"Flamethower...move!" Apone says as the two of them open fire on the beast, slowly letting it burn. However, as it shrieks dead, a hissing sound echoes throughout the chamber.

"I've got a bad feeling about this!" Mils says

"You and me both!" Stone says preparing her flamethrower, suddenly Hudson's motion tracker comes to life with dozens of contacts.

"Movement!" Hudson reports

"What's the position?!" Apone asks getting up and ready.

"I can't lock in!" Hudson responds.

"Talk to me Hudson!" Apone stresses.

"Multiple signals they're closing..."

"Go to people, look sharp!" Apone orders as the squad, slides down their infrared scopes on their helmets.

"What's happening Apone? Can't see anything in here!" Gorman asks clearly becoming nervous.

"Pull your team out Gorman!" Ellen says, sensing the danger, the squad looks around with nothing standing out to them, Hicks also is checking his tracker.

"I've got signals...I've got readings, in front and behind!" Hudson reports, as the squad looks frantically around them.

"Where man?! I don't see shit!" Frost reports

"He's right there's nothing back here!" Hicks adds

"Look I'm telling you there's something moving and it ain't us!" Hudson yells back, Crowe bumps past Frost startling him, causing him to slightly curse, Dietrich meanwhile looks over a section of the wall, flamethrower at the ready.

"Tracker's off scale man, they're all around us man!...Jesus!" Hudson continues, as Dietrich looks the other direction.

"Maybe they don't show up on infrared at all!" Dietrich theorizes, suddenly from behind her a camouflaged xenomorph launches itself, grabbing her and pulling her up towards the rest of the nest, she yells, and inadvertently pulls the trigger on her flamethrower, the flames shoot out and engulf Frost who looked to help Dietrich. He screams in pain as he falls over the guardrail to his death, the bag containing the magazines however lays at the side of said rail, also engulfed in flames.

"Frost!" Hicks yells, as Dietrich's screams fill the chamber, her feed cuts out, as Frost's vitals flatline.

"Frosty!" Stone yells as well, as herself and Mils look over the guardrail in horror, Wierzbowski arrives too, Hicks and Mils spontaneously spot the burning magazine filled bag, Hicks grabs Wierzbowski, as Crowe looks down in shock.

"Come on!" Hicks yells

"Ash get down!" Mils says shielding Stone, as the magazines explode, sending Crowe flying into a section of the wall, snapping his neck, killing him instantly, his vitals flatline.

"Jesus Christ Apone! What is going on?!" Gorman asks nervously.

"Wierzbowski and Crowe are down!" Hicks yells

"Dietrich?! Crowe?!" Apone yells

"Dietrich, Frost off the board!" Hicks yells

"Sound off...Frost...Frost!" Apone yells as Ellen looks and sees Crowe's view go to static, Hicks flips Crowe's corpse over and sees that his squadmate is dead...he then hears the screams of his other squadmate Wierzbowski from close by.

"Wierzbowksi! Wierzbowski!" he yells, meanwhile Mils and Stone still lay on the ground, Stone looks to her side and sees Mils barely conscious, with blood coming from his forehead, and his helmet discarded to the side, she stands up and looks around, grabbing her flamethrower, she sees from the darkness a xenomorph, she doesn't freeze though, she unloads flame on the creature, it screams in pain as it falls back into the wall.

Mils looks up to see all this, and through hazily eyes he sees his crush kill a xenomorph in an epic and badass way.

"That was hot.." he mutters as she turns to help him stand.

"Stay with me!" she yells, he notices something behind her and points his gun, shooting three rounds into a second xenomorph.

"Let's go!" he yells as she helps him stand, Vasquez and Drake look around them and see multiple targets.

"Let's rock!" she yells as her and Drake open fire with multiple yells of testosterone filled glee.

"Who's firing God damnit!" Gorman yells, as the pair continue to lay down suppressing fire.

"I ordered a hold fire!" Gorman yells

"They're coming out of the walls...they're coming out of the goddamn walls! Let's book!" Hudson yells

"Shit it's a damn ambush!" Mils yells loading his gun, as Hicks joins him and Stone.

"On your right man!" Vasquez says pointing a gun near Mils.

"Do It!" Mils screams as him, Hicks and Stone move back, meanwhile Gorman tries to come to grips with the situation.

"Uh...Apone, I want you to lay down a suppressing fire with the incinerators and fall back, by squads to the APC..." Gorman orders getting his bearings.

"Vasquez, Drake hold your fire...God damnit!" Apone says trying to do the same, holding a hand against his headset.

"Apone? Are you copying me, I want you to lay down a suppressing fire with incinerators...and fall back by squads to the APC!"

"Say again? All after incinerator!" Apone yells

"I said...I want you to lay down a suppressing fire with incinerators...and fall back by squads to the APC over!" Gorman responds, suddenly a xenomorph dashes toward Apone as he goes to aim for it, it knocks him out and drags him off.

As their squad leader falls silent, the marines and Gorman immediately become concerned.

"Sarge! Sarge! Holy shit, he's dead man!" Hudson yells

"Apone?! Talk to me!" Gorman pleads

"Top, do you copy? Copy!" Hicks yells

"He's down Hicks!" Mils yells opening fire around him.

"He's gone!" Ellen yells

"Get them out of there!" she continues

"Shut up!" Gorman retorts

"Do it now!"

"Shut up!" Gorman replies again, causing Ellen to grab a nearby headset.

"Hicks! Mils! Who's ever left, get the hell out of..." Ripley yells into the headset, but is cut off by Gorman

"Just shut up!" he yells

"God damn it!"

Hicks runs up to Hudson, frantic.

"Where's Apone?! Where's Apone?!" he asks

"The Sarge is gone! Let's get the fuck out of here!" Hudson yells as Hicks and Mils try to organize the remaining marines.

"Hudson! Move it! Let's go Marines!" Mils yells with Stone close behind laying layers of fire behind her.

"Let's move it Vas! Let's move it!" Drake yells

"Hudson? Vasquez?" Gorman says in shock.

"Hudson look out!" Hicks yells aiming for a nearby xenomorph.

"Get it!" Hudson yells

"Hudson!" Hicks yells after killing the xenomorph.

"Move it fall back...fall back!" Mils yells

"I told them to fall back..." Gorman says

"Come on...let's go, let's go!" Vasquez yells

"They're cut off! Do something!" Ellen yells grabbing Gorman by the collar, he is clearly in total shock.

"Fuck!" she yells in frustrating racing towards the front of the APC, she quickly places Newt in a nearby seat, locking her in!

"Hold on, Newt!" she yells as she runs to get into the driver's seat of the APC, learning the controls as she goes.

"Ripley?! What the hell are you doing?!" Gorman yells as he moves to gain control of the APC.

"Turn around! That's an order!" Gorman yells trying to wrestle the controls away from Ripley.

"Get off me damnit!"

"God damnit that's an order!" Gorman yells, before Burke comes up out of nowhere, fighting the Lieutenant off.

"You had your chance Gorman..." he states, as the APC bounces off the complex's walls, with the tires squealing.

Meanwhile, the marines continue to fall back towards the extraction point.

"Come on!" Hicks says helping Hudson through a hallway.

"Let's go Drake!" Vasquez yells as her and Drake continue to fire, the APC charges towards a wall, Ellen sees no other way to get to the Marines, she braces as the APC crashes through the wall at full speed, coming up near the marines.

"Let's go move it!" Hicks orders as him and Hudson near the APC.

"Come on Hombres!" Stone yells behind her to Drake and Vasquez.

"It's blocked man we gotta go around!" Hudson says as him and Hicks move around the front of the APC to the entrance.

"Open the door! Hicks! Mils!" Ellen yells as Burke goes to open the door, Hudson gets in first as Hicks helps him.

"Drake! We are leaving!" Hicks yells behind him, Stone practically jumps into the APC, as Mils almost collapses before her, he's kept it to himself, but he's lost vision in his right eye, as so much blood as gotten into it, he begins to fade out.

"Get back Vas! Run for it!" Drake yells as his smartgun finally runs out of ammo.

"Shit!" He yells throwing down the smart gun, harness and all onto the ground taking his spare flamethrower and spraying all around the front of him.

"Drake come on man! Come on!" Vasquez says as she finally makes into the APC, a nearby xenomorph pops up ready to pounce.

"Drake come on!" Vasquez yells, the xenomorph turns to her, she opens fire and killing the beast, but unintentionally splashing Drake with acidic blood, he screams in pain.

"No!" Vasquez yells as Drake's flamethrower sprays flame into the APC as his body falls dead.

"Fire in the hole!" Hudson yells

"Literally!" Stone adds, as she grabs a fire extinguisher, her, Gorman, and Burke put out the fire.

"Put it out man!" Hudson yells as Vasquez fights Hicks, trying to go get Drake.

"He's gone!" he states

"Drake's coming!" she argues

"He's gone!"

"No he's not!" Vasquez retorts as she prepares to charge back out there, Hicks throws her harness and gun off of her, and places her against the wall of the APC.

"Forget him he's gone!" He yells in her face, he goes to close the door, with Ripley preparing the APC to reverse, suddenly a xenomorph appears right in Hicks' face

"Get on the God damn door!" He yells as Hudson and Vasquez flank him, trying to close the door, Hicks puts his shotgun, barrel fist into the mouth of creature.

"Eat this!" he says as he pulls the trigger, this blows the creature's respective brains out, but splatters acidic blood on Hudson's exposed arm, he screams in pain as the doors close.

"Ripley! GO GO GO!" Hicks yells as Ripley reverses the APC out of the area, shifting hard as she goes, causing the occupants of the APC to fall at first, as they steady themselves a bunch of crates fall on top of Gorman knocking him out, as Ripley aims for the exit a xenomorph crashes it's hand through the window of the APC, she ducks it and slams the brakes. It goes flying ass over elbows, Ripley floors it and runs over the xenomorph with splat, as she finally crashes through the same entrance they had gone through not twenty minutes earlier, now the devastated marines and other survivors found themselves running away from the complex, scared, wounded and without a plan.


	10. Chapter 9: Stranded

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

Beta'd by DarthTenebrus, any further mistakes are my own.

ALIENS: NOT ALONE Chapter 9: Stranded

The APC bounces up and down on the rough and bumpy terrain. Ellen, fueled by adrenaline and fear, continues onward, not noticing the grinding noise coming from the bottom of the APC, as if the vehicle had teeth and was grinding them together.

Hicks gains his composure and heads up to the driver seat, hopping next to Ellen.

"It's alright, we're clear! Ripley! You've blown the transaxle, you're just grinding metal!" Hicks yells, trying to get Ellen's attention. He places his hands firmly on top of the steering device, slowly easing Ellen down.

"Come on, ease down...ease down...ease down! Alright..." Hicks says returning to the surviving marines. Ellen, meanwhile looks for Newt who isn't in the seat she had placed the young girl in not a moment earlier. Her fears are quickly relieved when she looks to her right and sees that Newt had moved in the middle of the chaos to a small nook of the armoured personnel carrier.

"You okay?" She asks, to which Newt replies with a thumbs up, complimented by a cough. This causes Ellen to breathe a sigh of relief, and she moves into the holding part of the APC and looks out at the surviving marines.

Hudson is holding his arm and has a new look of pain and panic on his face. Vasquez looks alright physically - emotionally she was probably feeling a cocktail of anger, fear and maybe even grief. Burke seems okay, just as shook up as everyone else, but not showing it openly. Hicks checks on Gorman who is still unconscious from his head injury. Her eyes jump to Mils who is sitting on a spare crate (ironically probably one of the culprits for Gorman's position), with a trail of blood coming from the right side of his head into his eye and down the side of his face. Stone is trying to keep pressure on it, she herself looking over her shoulder at the state of her squadmates.

"I'm all right..." Hudson says as Vasquez examines his severely burnt left arm, Burke walks up slowly trying to give him some first aid.

"Get away from me, man!" Hudson yells, catching everyone off guard. The marine is clearly unnerved by what has happened.

"Lieutenant…" Hicks says, examining Gorman's head which has several bruises on it, Ellen walks over and kneels down next to him.

"What happened to Gorman?" she asks.

"I don't know. Maybe a concussion. But, he's alive..." Hicks answers, just before Vasquez pushes the pair away from behind and grabs Gorman by the collar.

"No, he's DEAD!" she yells, looking to smash her elbow into the unconscious officer.

"Wake up, _pendejo_! Man, I'm gonna KILL you!" she yells, but is stopped by Hicks.

"Back off! Right now..." he orders, holding up his arm. Vasquez disappointedly lets Gorman go with a thud.

"Stupid fuck…" she mutters angrily, walking away. Ripley lets Hicks tend to Gorman as she catches Stone's eyes. The look from them showcases how shaken up the young private is. In an almost unconscious connected move between the two, Ripley quickly moves over to the pair, approaching from Mils' right side, with Stone trying to clean up some of the blood coming from her squadmate's forehead.

"Chris..." Ripley says. Mils is actually startled by his grandmother's sudden presence.

"Shit! Scared me...sorry..." Mils says.

Ripley shakes her head. "I didn't mean to...how's your head?"

"Sore and numb at the same time..."

"I'm no doctor, but I think he took some shrapnel," Stone says as she wraps a bandage around her friend's head.

"Ash? Where a-are you?" Mils asks, catching everyone off guard.

"I've been right next to you the entire time Stretch..."

"Well, that confirms it..." Mils says under his breath.

"What?" Ellen asks.

"I can't see out of my right eye. It's just...black..." Mils reveals, causing Stone and Ripley to exchange equally worried looks.

"Well, maybe Elizabeth can help..." Ellen says.

"Yeah..." Mils says.

"Stone, can you handle this?" Ellen asks her.

"Affrimative. I've got him..." Stone responds. Ripley walks back over to Gorman and Hicks, and then without notice Hudson notices something on the vital signs readout screens.

"Hey...Hey look! The Sarge and Dietrich aren't dead, man! I mean, their signs are real low, but they ain't dead..." he says, looking at the screens in front of him with wonder at how possibly two of his squadmates could have survived. His focus is so intense that he doesn't notice Hicks sidling up beside him to look at the screens as well.

"Then we go back in there and get them," Vasquez states determinedly.

"Fuck that!" Hudson retorts like a child.

"We don't leave our people behind!" Vasquez, ever the Marine, counters.

"I ain't going back in there, and you can't make me!" he insists. Ellen, finally understanding, raises her voice.

"You can't help them!" She sees the looks of brutal and hopeless realisation just beginning to dawn on their faces, and she continues, as much to ram the point home as to finish their mutual

education. "You can't. Right now they're being cocooned, just like the others..." Ellen states, confronting the squad with the grim reality that Gunnery Sergeant Apone and Corporal Dietrich have been condemned to a fate worse then death.

"Oh dear lord Jesus, this ain't happening, man. This can't be happening, man, this isn't happening!" Hudson stubbornly repeats in denial. ...

In the science wing of the operation center, Bishop continues to work on the alien parasite. Elizabeth, meanwhile, types through a console, trying to piece together everything that has happened since she was put into stasis.

She inhales sharply at what had occurred. By the looks of things Ward had tried to rally any members of the colony to his cause, with limited success - most had tried to escape via groundcar, but were either slaughtered by the xenomorphs or subdued and taken. Suicide rates had soared, with 1 out of 4 people found dead via self-inflicted wounds.

Ward had also attempted to send several other messages, officially relaying a Code Black which was regrettably never transmitted. Ward's last transmission indicated that he was moving towards the atmosphere processor. She silently curses to herself - Ward had only saved her, or at least she was the only one that was successfully saved as it turned out.

The simple fact that her brother and her grandmother are on the same planet as her is just as surreal. She missed her brother, but for him to reunite with her under these circumstances...well that was bittersweet. Her grandmother's presence made things even more interesting, she was almost the spitting image of her mother (which made sense).

She lets a lone tear fall down her cheek as the realization hits her. Out of nearly two hundred people, she and Newt are the only survivors. Bishop, having noticed the tear, silently approaches her from behind, offering her a tissue.

"Doctor?" he asks.

"Oh...thank you Bishop. Sorry, just...letting the situation get to me..." Elizabeth politely says, taking said tissue.

"It's alright, you've been through a remarkable emotional situation, the fact you and Rebecca survived...it's quite...admirable..."

"Yeah, well, I don't know if I'd call dealing with these things 'remarkable'..."

"Yes, I actually have some questions about the xenomorphs. The first subject was a...Russ Jordan, correct?"

"Yeah," she nods. "They were investigating some potential derelict, it was several miles outside our perimeter. We lost radio contact for a minute or two and then Annie, his wife?" she explains. At Bishop's nod she continues, "Annie called in a mayday to Hadley Control and he came back with one of those things on his face..."

"It seems embryo implantation doesn't take long…"

"No, not at all, that's for damned sure. In fact, we didn't know what had happened until it was too late."

"I'm sorry, no one has come across this species in quite some time..." Bishop continues. Her eyes then widen and her brow furrows at his sudden revelation.

"What do you mean?" Elizabeth asks, her voice beginning to show signs of anger.

"The Nostromo. According to Ripley...your grandmother, Ellen Ripley, of course, they encountered some form of creature. From her account it matches this description" Bishop says referring to the parasite on the table.

"Yeah...one of nature's wonders right?" Elizabeth says sarcastically, her anger abating only slightly, but for the moment forgotten.

"Yes, it actually is magnificent..." Bishop says in blissful ignorance of her anger, returning to the work he had begun earlier. A few moments of silence fill the room, until finally Bishop continues speaking.

"You're a lot like your brother, yet different..."

"In what way?" Elizabeth asks, clearly interested.

"He works with his heart, and from what I've seen you work with your mind. You try to be cold, detached, but you can't be...you're too...human". Bishop explains, not moving his eyes away from the dissected facehugger.

"Very astute Mister Bishop..." Elizabeth says, very impressed by the android's observation.

"I'm not as...dull as some people think I am..." Bishop explains, a slight half smile betraying his seeming innocence.

"Well, you've kept for very good company, hopefully they find something...or someone..." Elizabeth states as she looks one more time at the dead thing on the operating table.

…

The survivors all gather their thoughts as Vasquez ponders a plan with the others trying to recuperate. Hicks wraps Hudson's injured arm with a field dressing, while Stone wraps one around Mils' head, and Ellen looks down at some schematics.

"Alright, we've got seven canisters of CN-20, I say we roll in there and nerve gas the whole fucking nest..." Vasquez states, to which Hicks responds skeptically.

"That's worth a try, but we don't know if it's even gonna affect them." he states morosely, contemplating the facts.

"Yeah, APC's not exactly 100 percent either..." Mils adds, as he grimaces with his still-throbbing head.

"Look, let's just bug out and call it even okay? What are we even talking about this for?" Hudson asks, looking at his fellow Marines as if they're nuts.

"I say we take off and just nuke the entire site from orbit," Ellen finally says as the other occupants of the APC all look at her in shock.

"It's the only way to be sure..." she says matter-of-factly.

"Fuckin A!" Hudson says, cheering Ripley on, causing Burke to jump up and nearly hit his head on the ceiling. He alarmingly objects to this unbelievably extreme course of action.

"Whoa, whoa whoa, hold on, one second! This installation has a substantial

dollar value attached to it..." he begins, but Ripley interrupts him.

"They can BILL me!" she laughs in disgust.

Burke tries another approach, hoping cooler heads might still prevail and salvage the situation. "Okay...look. This is an emotional moment for all of us. Okay, I know that. But, let's not make snap judgments, please. This is clearly-" he hesitates as Hicks glares at him, then tries to continue. "Clearly an important species we're dealing with, and I don't think that you or I or anybody has the right to arbitrarily exterminate them..." he continues, but is cut off again by Ripley.

"Wrong..." she says in disbelief, as she had thought Burke might have been the exception to the rule when it came to Weyland-Yutani Stooges.

"Yeah, watch us," Vasquez challenges him, daring him to try and stop them.

"Yeah, YOU didn't just lose six friends in the blink of an eye," Stone points out sharply.

"Maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal!"

Hudson stresses.

"Look, I'm not blind to what's going on, but I cannot authorize that kind of action. I'm sorry" Burke finishes with a matter of fact tone, continuing to hope that by asserting corporate authority he could force them to reverse their position.

"Well, I believe Corporals Hicks and Mils have authority here.." Ellen says in a similar tone.

"Corporals..." Burke responds, thrown off by the obvious monkey wrench in his plans.

"This operation is under military jurisdiction and they are next in chain of command...am I right you two?" Ellen asks with a raised eyebrow looking towards Hicks and Mils, who both exchange bewildered looks as they realize that they are now responsible for the whole show as it were.

"Yeah...yeah that's right" Hicks agrees, feeling the weight of his newly-shouldered burden of top command. He and Mils have equal rank, but he has seniority, which makes him The Man, as it were.

"Okay, Ripley? Look. This is a multi-million dollar installation, okay? They can't make that kind of decision, they're just grunts. Uh, no offense," Burke says, apologizing over to the two suddenly glaring corporals.

"I'm not offended...you offended?" Mils says looking over towards Hicks, clearly not offended.

"No offense taken...at all...Ferro, do you copy?" Hicks says into the radio, the pilot responding almost immediately.

"Standing by."

"Prep for dust off, ground team requesting immediate evac!" Hicks orders.

"Roger, on our way!"

"Prep the dropship for medivac, Ferro!" Mils adds.

"Copy..."

"I say we take off, pick up Bishop and the good doctor, and then nuke the site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure." Hicks smirks, repeating Ellen's earlier words. She and Mils smirk back in amusement.

….

The Marines move into the wasteland, heading toward a suitable landing zone for the UD-4L Cheyenne dropship, with Vasquez leading the way armed with a pistol. Hicks, Hudson, Ellen, Burke and Newt carry Gorman's unconscious form on a stretcher. Mils follows behind them with his revolver in his left hand and his right arm around Stone's shoulder, while she supports his weight and acts as her friends eyes, her free arm holding her incinerator.

"Come on, pick it up, Hudson! Pick it up baby!" Hicks yells over the howling wind.

"Okay, set him down here," he orders, lighting a flare as the litter bearers gently place Gorman down on the terrain.

"How you holding up?" Ellen says looking behind her towards Mils.

"Just peachy Ellen, be a lot nicer when we're back on the Sulaco..." Mils says with slight sarcasm and sincerity mixed into one.

Elsewhere, on a nearby landing pad, Ferro starts up her dropship, the usually jovial pilot was now in business mode at hearing that medivac was needed.

"Move it, Spunkmeyer, we're rolling!" She orders into her headset. In the cargo bay, Spunkmeyer jogs up the loading ramp of the dropship, when he grips onto to one of the handrails however, he feels a sticky, syrupy substance, and he reflexively pulls his hand up in slight disgust and concern, as his hand is now covered in some form of slime.

"Hold on a second there's something..." He begins to report, but is cut off by Ferro.

"Just get up here...they need medivac!" she yells.

"I'm in. Ramp closing..." he says as he presses a nearby button, raising the cargo ramp while still examining his hand.

As the dropship moves towards the group, Hicks lights up another flare.

Ferro meanwhile grows impatient with Spunkmeyer's absence and silence. Spunkmeyer was supposed to have immediately entered the cockpit and assumed his station.

"Spunkmeyer?...God damn it..." Ferro says as she taps her headset mic...finally the doors behind her open, she turns around ready to chastise her co-pilot.

"Well where the fuck...shit..." she says. It isn't Spunkmeyer in the doorway. It isn't even human, but some sort of unimaginable nightmare creature, eyeless but somehow looking sharply into her own eyes. Its jaws are only halfway open, but opening still wider, and already she can see something she never would have imagined in another animal. Her training takes over, and she quickly turns to grab her semiautomatic, but the creature is too fast, as just as she gets her hands on her pistol, the creature pounces, its inner jaws pistoling outward, razor sharp claws wildly tearing away chunks from all over her body, slitting a massive hole in her throat causing her body to thrash around in agonized convulsions, and blood to spray all over the cockpit window, her seizing body also moves the controls downward.

She never had a chance to scream.

The dropship veers at a sharp angle now, approaching the survivors faster than normal, and concerned glances race across all their faces as they realize something is very wrong.

"Something's not right. She's veering way to close to the ground!" Stone yells, having some experience flying dropships in simulations during her spare time.

The concerned glances turn to horrified glances as the starboard landing skid collides with a small peak, causing it to break off with a crash.

"Run!" Ellen yells, grabbing Newt as the survivors all run for cover, Hudson diving under a small rock formation while the others run over to a nearby outcropping of boulders.

The dropship crashes and rolls violently on the rough and rocky terrain, with explosions tearing the once mighty war machine to pieces, and the flaming husk of machinery collides with the armored personnel carrier, destroying it in the process.

The remaining pieces of the ship roll into the nearby facility entrance, exploding one more time as the survivors look on hopelessly at the flaming wreckage around them.

Hudson comes back up from his prone position, looking around him in shock and disbelief as in only a few seconds what feels like his world has come crashing down, literally.

"Everyone good?!" Mils yells as he tries to stand up with Stone helping him. "Ash, you ok?"

"Barely..." Stone says under her breath.

"Vas?!" Mils says not seeing his squadmate right away.

_" ¡Estoy bien!"_ she yells over the chaos. Hicks kicks a piece of flaming debris away and then he picks his way over toward Gorman, who has a large chunk of flaming metal right next to him. Hicks throws the shrapnel away with a grunt.

Hudson picks up a jagged piece of debris, holding it in disbelief.

"Well, that's great...that's just fucking great man! Now what are we supposed to do?! We're in some real pretty shit now, man!" Hudson yells in despair.

Hicks finally grabs him by his chest armour. "Are you finished?" he yells, clearly frustrated. His words have an immediate effect as Hudson is shamed into silence at that moment. Newt climbs over a small rock formation and looks at the burning wreckage.

"You guys alright?" Hicks asks Ellen who nods silently.

"I guess we're not going to be leaving now, right?" Newt asks, remarkably calm.

"I'm sorry Newt..." Ellen says somberly.

"You don't have to be sorry...it wasn't your fault..." Newt says, almost taking the role of the parent comforting Ellen. Hudson meanwhile behind them resumes his tirade, his hopeless effect having once again taken hold.

"That's it man! Game over, man! Game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now?! What are we going to do?!" he asks, shouting as his voice breaks.

"Maybe we can build a fire, sing a couple of songs, huh? Why don't we try that?" Burke responds sarcastically, disgusted with Hudson's lack of optimism. Colonial Marines are supposed to be hardier than this, he thinks.

Newt is not lost on the situation, and even feels some sympathy for Hudson. His fear is perfectly normal, she understands, having faced the creatures herself on countless occasions.

"We should get back," she cautions Ellen, "cause it'll be dark soon and they mostly come at night. Mostly," she emphasizes, with Stone and Mils overhearing the conversation.

"Sharp kid..." Stone observes as Mils holds his head.

"Ahhh...don't say sharp Ash..."

"Let's go get your sister..." Stone smiles. As the marines move towards the wreckage of the APC, they find some crates containing five pulse rifles, five half-full magazines, and two flamethrowers.

"Well at least we're not totally _jodido_, man..." Vasquez says with a breath looking down at the crate.

"Yeah, but we ain't gonna last long with just one magazine per, and two tanks of fuel..." Hicks states grimly.

Mils however, notices in the debris a sub compartment of the floor, he moves towards it slowly, picking it up with a grunt, eventually using his knife blade to pry it open, and the compartment reveals several magazines of pulse rifle ammo and flamethrower fuel tanks, Stone walks up behind him.

"Shit...rule 22?" Stone asks looking towards him and smiling.

"Rule 22, always bring extra ammo..." Mils answers, nodding as he helps her lift the spare crate up.

….

The crates of ammunition, weaponry, and supplies are loaded onto a metal table with a heavy thump.

"All right. This is absolutely everything that we could salvage out of the APC wreckage. We've got five pulse rifles, with about fifty rounds each, with a spare magazine for each, so one hundred fifty rounds total per weapon... You got...uh, fifteen of these M40 grenades" Hicks says looking over the spread, almost stating out loud their chances for survival.

"Vas, about how many rounds does it take to put down one of those fuckers...five, six?" Stone asks seriously.

"I don't know man, just kinda pulled the trigger and let the bullets fly..." Vasquez says Checking the pulse rifles. Stone and Mils look at each other forlornly. They do not like the odds already.

Newt looks at the grenades, going to pick one up, Hicks however stops her.

"Don't touch that. Dangerous, honey..." Hicks says.

"Only two flamethrowers?" Ellen asks.

"Yeah, but with the extra fuel, we should be alright, for now anyway..." Stone says, grabbing one and examing it, as Newt picks one of the Marines' helmets up, putting it on.

"But, the good news. We've got four of these robot sentries...with display and scanners intact. They really kick ass. I think they'll come in handy."

Ellen crunches the numbers in her head and decides to ask the one question that really needs to be asked.

"How long after we're declared overdue can we expect a rescue?" she inquires, and all the marines exchange looks of despair. They all know what Hicks' answer is going to be.

"17 days..." he responds grimly.

Hudson immediately pops next to Hicks and Ellen. "Seventeen days? Hey, man, I don't want to rain on your parade, but we're not going to last seventeen hours! Those things are going to come in here, just like they did before, and they're going to come in here..."

"Hudson!" Mils says grasping his head.

"...and they're going to keep coming in here and then they're going to get us!"

"Hudson! This little girl survived longer than that with no weapons and no training. Right?"

Ellen yells back, as Newt salutes Hudson defiantly.

"Why don't you put her in charge?!"

"You better just start dealing with it, Hudson. You listening to me? Hudson, just deal with it, because we need you and I'm sick of your bullshit. Now, I want you to get on a terminal and call up some kind of floor plan file, do you understand?" Ellen pushes with her words, not letting up as she knows that doing so will give his despair a chance to kick in again.

"Yeah...yeah" Hudson responds with every one of Ellen's instructions, focussing as her words take effect and he grows calmer.

"Construction blueprints, I don't care, anything that shows the layout of this place, are you listening?" Ellen asks, with Hudson nodding.

"I need to see air ducts. I need to see electrical access tunnels, sub basements. Every possible way into this complex!" She looks in his eyes, and she triumphantly sees he is fine now, or at least as okay as he can get considering the crappy situation they've landed in. "We don't have much time." Ellen explains, Mils adds to the conversation.

"Hud...we don't need some panicking private looking through those schematics, we need our bad ass Tech expert Private First Class Hudson. You read me?" Mils says calmly, grimacing a little.

"Okay...okay, I'm on it!" Hudson says finally.

"Hudson! Just relax," Ellen says, as Hudson exhales loudly walking away.

"You two are definitely related man..." Vasquez observes, Ellen and Mils look at each other, exchanging smirks.

"Yeah...ugh" Mils says falling to one knee, gripping one hand to the table, within seconds Stone and Ripley are at his side.

"We need to get him to Elizabeth..." Ellen says.

"I've got him..." Ash says as she helps Mils walk towards where his sister is located, just as Bishop arrives.

"Can I help anyone?" He offers innocently.

"Yeah Bishop, you and Vasquez get Gorman to Med-lab," Hicks orders.

"You got it, man!" Vasquez says.

"I'll continue my analysis as well." Bishop adds as he and Vasquez lift the stretcher with Gorman, following Mils and Stone.

"Fine... you do that," Ellen says, still a little unnerved by his presence, still having flashbacks to Ash on the Nostromo

.

….

Elizabeth wouldn't admit it, but having a little quiet, even under these circumstances, was nice, even if she was sharing it with a synthetic, or was less than personable, at least when not talking about the dead parasite currently on the table in front of her.

"Note to self - propose new theory that these creatures die shortly after making contact, regardless if embryo implantation is successful or not." Elizabeth says as she adds a detail to Bishop's handwritten notes. The sound of footsteps coming towards the med-lab causes her to grip the shotgun next to her and turn, ready to fire. She relaxes a little when she sees Stone walking towards her, but she immediately tenses up upon seeing the state of her brother.

"Oh my God...Chrissy! What the hell happened to him?!" She asks running up to her brother, putting his free arm around her leading him to a nearby bed.

"We got ambushed...they came out of the fucking walls, we lost almost everyone, Chr...Stretch here shielded me from an explosion, I think he took some shrapnel to the head!" Stone says helping the taller Mils onto the bed.

"Shit..." Elizabeth says as she takes off the bloody bandages on her brother's head, just then Vasquez and Bishop walk in with Gorman's unconscious body.

"What happened to him?!" Elizabeth yells shocked with a second injured marine entering her med-lab.

"His head was shoved up his ass, and now said head has a concussion..." Stone explains, Elizabeth moves over to examine Gorman's head.

"From the looks of it, it's a grade 2 concussion...he's gonna be out for awhile...I can give him some pain meds, and keep ice on the head...Chrissy on the other hand, we might have to operate on..." Elizabeth explains.

"Operate?" Mils and Stone say at the same time, both worried.

"Relax, you took some shrapnel, gave you a nasty cut here, and looked to cut your cornea a little, the amount of blood from both wounds would make things even more problematic, here Stone help me steady him...Vasquez right? You need to keep an eye on the Lieutenant..." Elizabeth says.

"Great..." Vasquez says with sarcasm.

"Okay, Bishop? Grab the surgical kit, it should be over there..." Elizabeth orders, Bishop retrieves said kit, and walks over to the trio.

"Alright, Chrissy? You'll be fine...I'm gonna give you something to knock you out for a bit..."

"I don't know Ell, shouldn't you put me into a surgical chamber...or something...or''

"Hey! You're my brother, I'm not gonna hurt you!"

"Alright..."

"Not intentionally anyway..." Elizabeth finishes as she presses a hypospray loaded with a tranquilizer against her brother's arm, pressing the trigger.

"Wait, wha..." Mils says before he finally passes out, being caught by both Stone and his sister.

"Alright, lay him down flat, Bishop hand me the liquid suture, okay let's do this, Stone? Keep that rag ready. I'm gonna start with the eye first." Elizabeth orders as she sprays her brother's injured eye with the liquid suture spray. It slowly stops the bleeding and also produces artificial white blood cells to repair the injury. She jumps into action when it comes to the head wound - from what she can see it'll be a simple job. She sprays the wound with disinfectant, and then goes to work with medical staples, stitching up the wound with several horizontal taps.

"Okay, blood should start clotting by now...let's wake him up." Elizabeth says as she grabs a small syringe of adrenaline.

"Okay...he's gonna hop up in 3...2...1!" she says injecting her brother with the adrenaline, he bounces up, startling everyone.

"Shit! Shit!...How long was I out?!" Mils asks.

"It's been 3 years..." Stone says melodramatically.

"More like 3 minutes Chrissy, how do you feel?" Elizabeth asks

"Better...my head's not throbbing anymore...still can't see though..." Mils says.

"Don't worry your eye's gonna be fine, it just needs to heal...Bishop could you grab that black case over there?" Elizabeth asks.

"Certainly, Doctor." Bishop says, retrieving said case from a nearby cabinet to hand it to Elizabeth.

"Until then...you need to keep light off of it...so you're gonna have to wear this..." Ellizabeth says opening said case and pulling out a black eye patch.

Mils looks at it skeptically. "You want me to get a parrot too?" He asks with a deadpan expression.

"Listen wise ass! You'll lose that eye if it's get infected, this will stop that from happening!" Elizabeth points out. He silently nods with a sigh and he lets his sister put it on his head. She steps back as those in the Med-Lab look at the repaired Mils.

"Not bad man..." Vasquez says smirking.

"Yeah, just when you thought he couldn't get any hotter..." Stone says under her breath, Elizabeth smirks hearing the comment.

"Thanks Ell...you really know your stuff..." Mils says looking at his nearby reflection, the moment is interrupted by Hicks who comes over the radio.

"Sparks? Vasquez? Mils and Gorman secure?" he asks, Vasquez answers.

"Yeah, _pinche cereza_ LT's gonna have one hell of a hangover, while _hombre alto_ (tall man) is good to go!" she speaks into the radio.

"Copy that! Meet us back in operations, Hudson's got the layout up and running," Hicks orders. Mils hops off the bed and grabs his revolver from his holster.

"Alright, you guys go ahead, I'll be right behind you!" Mils says, Elizabeth looks at the gun.

"Dad's gun...can't believe you still carry it around..." She observes as Mils loads it.

"You still have Mom's shotgun, so I'd say we both carry them with a purpose..." he says holstering the weapon and moving towards the doorway, his sister running up to him.

"Hey! Any word on when we're gonna get help?"

"Don't know, 17 days is the SOP for these situations. Right now we're stranded, but we'll think of something, we always do!" Mils says winking with his one good eye, as he runs off to join his fellow marines, leaving his sister and Bishop to attend to Gorman's needs, vowing to be ready for whatever comes next.

Ah shit, what happens next? Stay tuned.

In the meantime, I wanna give a big shout out to DarthTenebrus for Beta Reading and polishing up this bad boy, go give his page a looksee, and always favorite, follow, and review when you get the chance.


	11. Chapter 10: Surviving

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

Beta'd, Chopped and Screwed by DarthTenebrus, any further mistakes are my own.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Chapter 10: Surviving with no Hope of Survival**

The remaining marines and the Ripley women look over the layout of the colony on the schematics Hudson had pulled up, crowded closely around the display table as Newt hops up and down trying to get a view of the schematics, attempting to peer over the taller marines' shoulders to no avail, until Hicks lifts her up onto the display table.

"So, this service tunnel must be how they're moving back and forth," Ellen says, tracing her fingers across the screen with one hand while the other holds the control interface.

"That's right. It moves from the processing station right into the sub-level here. Come down on that. Okay, come over. Hold it. Go back. Punch that in right there." Hudson says placing his finger down on a section of the tunnel.

"No, it's back here..." Mils says, looking through his one good eye, as the layout backs up to a previous position.

"Well, there's a pressure door at this end. Couldn't we put a remote sentry unit in the tunnel and then seal that door?" Elizabeth points out tracing her fingers against the screen.

"Yeah, that'll work but we gotta figure on them getting into the complex," Hicks stresses.

"That's right. So, we repair the barricades at these intersections here," Ellen proposes with everyone nodding along.

"Right..." Hicks and Mils say in almost perfect harmony.

"And weld plate steel over these ducts here...and here... and here. That way they can only come at us from these two corridors," Ellen continues, pointing out the locations as she describes them.

"Yeah, we can turn those corridors into a bottleneck. Perfect kill zone," Mils says, looking at Hicks and the other Marines who nod their assent.

"Alright, then we put the other sentry units here and here. Right?" Hicks asks, indicating one of the corridors.

"Yep," Elizabeth smiles.

"Outstanding. Now all we need is a deck of cards." Hicks says with a smirk, at which Stone ironically pulls out a deck of cards.

"Um...were we being serious?" she asks innocently when everyone turns to stare or glare at her, turning their glares into eyerolls of mirth.

"Fucking _payaso_," chuckles Vasquez, unable to hide her grin at Stone's antics.

"Are you _ever_ serious?" Ellen Ripley asks incredulously, drawing out a giggle from Newt.

Stone shrugs, "Yeah. When it's time to fight or fuck, I'm deadly serious. 'Sides, I'm too pretty to be a clown, ain't that right,Vas?"

Multiple pairs of eyes roll again as the owners ask the heavens, "_What are we supposed to do with this woman?"_

"Even if the sentries do any appreciable damage, the problem is gonna be when they run out of ammo. We could use the spare grenades we have to maybe rig some IEDs to blow once that happens," Mils offers.

"I can get you some tech to help you out," Elizabeth states with a smirk.

"Well all right, people, let's move like we've got a purpose!" Hicks says.

"Affirmative," Hudson says, moving with Vasquez as the Marines separate to do their various tasks.

"Ah-firmative," Newt says imitating Hudson as Hicks helps her bounce down.

The survivors prepare their makeshift defense in their own little ways. Mils, Elizabeth and Stone help rig the IEDs using the grenades and a remote alarm system.

"Okay, these wires, when you press the snooze function on the remote controls, will send a pulse of electricity into the grenades, causing them to detonate. Now we have three groups of grenades here..." Elizabeth states.

"We can split them in half, or we can put five in each corridor and the remaining six we keep for an emergency," Stone says.

"I think this whole situation's an emergency, Ash," Mils says, as he finishes prepping one of the last grenades. "But you do have a point, we need a contingency plan."

"Still, they should do some damage," Elizabeth says.

Hicks prepares the remote sentries, setting up the small terminals linked wirelessly to each of the four guns, while in one of the corridors Hudson and Vasquez prime two of them. Each of the display screens showed the different options for each individual weapon - a simple setup, really, with only seven categories to navigate through. Its default system mode was auto-remote, but it could be set to manual override or semiautomatic in a hurry with a tap of a button. Weapon mode was the same as a physical safety catch on a weapon - safe or armed, all it took was a button tap to switch from one to the other. There were three target profiles to choose from. Soft meant flesh and blood, semihard meant lightly armoured flesh, and hard meant armour. It could cycle on command between biological and inert targets, between infrared, ultraviolet and multispectrum mode, and it could search for and fire on all moving targets or it could ping any nearby transponders to identify which lifeforms were targets and which were not, and in test mode it could fire four-round bursts or fire continuously at its cyclic rate until its side-mounted drum magazine was exhausted. Presently, Hicks' job means he operates each of the terminals and runs the diagnostic programs, while the privates make the physical connections. In this case that is Hudson and Vasquez with A and B guns, while Stretch and Sparks emplace and hook up C and D sentries.

"Do your thing, baby. Come on, come on, Vasquez. Let's get the hell out of here." Hudson says as he makes a final connection on one of the sentry turrets, and at his signal to Vasquez on the shoulder, the two of them head to the end of the corridor.

"Hudson here, A and B sentries are in place and keyed," Hudson says into his headset.

"Stand by, arming now. Test it, Hudson!" Hicks orders as the remote terminal display switches from "safe" to "armed".

"Do it!" Hudson yells.

"Fire in the hole!" Vasquez calls out, signalling all to stay clear behind the weapons as she throws a trash can into the kill zone. In less than a half second upon sensing movement, the automated sentry guns turn and aim, then open fire automatically, obliterating the trash can with multiple four-round bursts of 10mm explosive AP rounds.

"Let's get the hell out of here!" Hudson says as him and Vasquez move into a separate doorway.

"We're sealing the tunnel! Come on, baby..." Hudson says as the door closes.

In a separate corridor Mils and Stone set up the second set of sentry guns.

"Alright, let's move Ash..." Mils says moving past his partner in crime as she places the last of the IEDs down behind the sentry guns.

"Right behind you," Ash says following him.

"Hicks, C and D turrets are done. We're good to go!" Mils says into his headset.

"Copy that, guns are armed and ready!"

"Fire in the hole!" Mils yells as Stone tosses an empty milk crate which is torn to pieces by the sentries' withering gunfire.

"Alright, ready to go!" Stone says grabbing Mils by the shoulder and dragging him along.

Burke and Newt walk with several containers of food past Hicks and Ellen who are sealing a vent exit with a piece of metal.

"Well that's taken care of..." Ellen states.

"For what it's worth. Here, I want you to put this on." Hicks says grabbing what looks like an old-style wristwatch from around his arm.

"What's it for?" Ellen asks.

"It's a locator. Then I can find you anywhere in the complex on this," Hicks says referring to a cylindrical device with a distance reader that he pulls off his load-bearing harness, and Ripley looks at him with a raised eyebrow.

"It's just a precaution," Hicks says.

"Thanks," Ellen states.

"Doesn't mean we're engaged or anything, and I know where I am," Hicks jokes as he and Ellen share a chuckle. "Right, what's next?" Hicks adds, getting back to business, as Ellen picks up a printed out floor-plan.

Ripley carries a work-exhausted, sleepy Newt to a nearby medical room, to a cot in a distant corner.

"Alright, last stop," Ellen soothes as she places Newt on the cot. "Scoot down. That's good. Now you lie here and have a nap. You're very tired."

"I don't want to. I have scary dreams all the time now," Newt admits sitting up.

"Well, I bet Casey doesn't have bad dreams. Let's take a look," Ellen smiles, looking up into the doll's head.

"Nope, nothing bad in there. See? Maybe you could just try to be like her," Ellen emphasises, but Newt looks at her with an almost patronizing twerk of her eyes.

"Ripley, she doesn't have bad dreams because she's just a piece of plastic." Newt says in a very matter-of-fact tone.

"Right. I'm sorry, Newt," Ellen says laughing lightly.

Ellen turns and pulls over a space heater, turning it on and pointing it towards Newt. She could see the traumatised youngling relax just a little bit, allowing the rosy glow to comfort her.

"There...now it's gonna get nice and toasty for ya." Her smile softens into a curious gaze as each, a bereaved mother and orphaned child, share a moment.

"My mommy always said there were no monsters. No real ones, but there are," Newt finally declares in quiet acceptance.

Ellen puts her head down, becoming quiet at the child's question.

"Yes, there are, aren't there?" Ellen admits looking the child in the eye and seeing the truth in her gaze.

"Why do they tell little kids that?" Newt asks, her voice taking on a curious mature tone.

"Well...most of the time, it's true," Ellen responds. "But not this time."

"Did one of those things grow inside her?" Newt asks with a mixture of sadness and curiosity.

"I don't know, Newt. That's the truth." Ellen says, admitting defeat as she realizes she doesn't know the exact particulars of how a xenomorph develops.

"Isn't that how babies come? I mean, people babies? They grow inside you," Newt asks, and Ellen smirks reflexively at the human notion.

"No, it's very different." she says with a chuckle.

"Did you ever have a baby?" Newt asks, Ellen goes silent, and then answers.

"Yes, I did. I had a little girl, like you," Ellen says with a sad smile as her eyes tear up.

"Where is she?"

"She's gone."

"You mean dead." Newt clarifies. Not a question, not a guess. Just a statement.

"Yes. But, she isn't _entirely_ gone, she had two kids as well. They're here actually, Corporal Mils and Dr Ripley? Well they're my grandkids, Christopher and Elizabeth."

"You're a grandma?" Newt says as a bloom of happiness erupts in her heart, something she has not felt in what seems now to be forever.

"Yes, I am. Just found out a few weeks ago," Ellen smiles as she remembers how happy she was to have met her grandson only weeks ago at Gateway. Something then occurs to her, a possibility that, even in a universe as messed-up as one that could produce a species like the Xenomorphs, there are still such things as second chances. Could this poor orphaned victim of a brutal Xenomorph attack be hers? Ellen makes a decision then, one that ties her to this child forever.

"Here, take this. For luck," she says. Removing her locator, she places it around Newt's delicate wrist, fastening the Velcro strips to each other to keep her treasured one safe. She stands up to leave, but Newt grabs her arm before she can rise halfway.

"Don't go! Please?"

"Newt, I'll be right in the next room. And, see that camera right up there?" Ellen says, pointing to a security camera as Newt follows her finger with her eyes. "I can see you right through that camera, all the time, to see if you're safe. I'm not going to leave you, Newt. I mean that. That's a promise."

"You promise?" Newt asks, hopeful.

"I cross my heart."

"And hope to die?"

"And hope to die," Ellen responds solemnly, and then Newt hugs Ripley suddenly and tightly, placing a kiss on her new mother's cheek. Ellen returns the hug, and Newt lies down.

"Now go to sleep...and don't dream," Ellen says. Newt points at Ripley's shirt, and when Ellen looks down Newt flicks her nose. "Sneak..." Ellen smiles before she walks out of the medlab.

Ellen stands over an unconscious Gorman, with Elizabeth, Bishop and the marines minus Hicks, as they sit around trying to come up with theories about the xenomorphs.

"The molecular acid oxidizes after the creature's death, completely neutralizing it," Bishop finishes explaining.

"That explains why none of their bodies have ever been found," Stone says.

"Yeah, their blood's a real sonavabitch," Elizabeth grouses as she holds up the evidence on her arm.

"Fucking A!" Hudson winces, slowly shaking his head and holding his own arm in sympathy.

"Bishop, you know, that's very interesting, but that doesn't really get us anywhere, does it? We're trying to figure out what we're dealing with here. Let's go through it again. They grab the colonists, they move them over to the nest, and immobilize them to be hosts for more of _these_..." Ellen theorizes, gesticulating at the dead parasite on the examination table. "Which would mean there would have to be a lot of these parasites, right? One for each colonist, that's over a hundred at least."

"124 to be exact," Elizabeth adds.

"Yes, that follows," Bishop confirms almost unnecessarily.

"And each one of these things come from an egg, right?" She slowly turns to face the group, searching their eyes for answers. "So who's laying these eggs?" Ellen asks, as everyone looks around at each other.

"I'm not sure. It must be something we haven't seen yet." Bishop replies.

"Hey, maybe it's like an ant hive," Hudson guesses.

"_Bees_, man. _Bees_ have hives," Vasquez corrects him, venting her irritation and the last vestiges of her grief over Drake.

"You know what I mean. There's like...one female that runs the whole show. "

"Yes, the queen." Bishop says.

"Yeah, the momma," Hudson nods, following the android's words. "And she's badass, man. I mean _big_!" Hudson says holding up his fingers to emphasise just how large the queen truly is.

"These things ain't ants, _estúpido_!" Vasquez says as Stone and Mils smirk from nearby.

"I know that!" Hudson yells back.

"Bishop, I want these specimens destroyed as soon as you're finished with them. Is that clear?" Ellen says.

"Mr. Burke gave instructions that they were to be kept alive in stasis for return to the company labs," the android replies automatically, eliciting shock and horror in the expressions of those in attendance. He adds dutifully, "He was very specific about it."

"Motherfucker..." Mils curses under his breath.

"Elizabeth, Christopher? Could you come with me? We need to have a word with that slimeball..." Ellen says as Mils and Ellizabeth follow her into a secluded section of the operations center, where Burke looks over some paper work.

"Can I help you?" Burke asks innocently.

"Mind telling us why you want those specimens, shitheel?" Mils asks, holding his pulse rifle with one arm, Burke sighs like a inconvencied insurance salesman.

"Look, those two specimens are worth _millions_ to the bio-weapons division, right? Now, if you're smart...we can all come out of this heroes and we will be set up for life." Burke says matter of factly. The three people in front of him, looking as if he's crazy.

"Your crazy, Burke, do you know that? Do you really think you can get a dangerous organism like that past ICC quarantine?" Ellen replies incredulously.

"How can they impound it if they don't know about it?" Burke says as though the idea hadn't yet crossed their minds.

"But they _will_ know about it, Burke," the elder Ripley counters. "From me. Just like they'll know that _you_ were responsible for the deaths of one hundred and fifty-seven colonists."

"Wait a _second!_" Burke begins to protest.

"You sent them to that ship!" Ellen raises her voice now as the facts begin to manifest as a testimony against the Company bureaucrat.

"_You're wrong!_" Burke blurts out defensively, the first signs of panic beginning to show.

"I just checked the colony log. Directive dated 6-12-79, signed Burke, Carter J!" Ellen goes on, her grandchildren watching with rapt fascination as their ancestor and the bureaucrat duel.

"You sent them out there and you didn't even warn them. You didn't even fucking warn _us_, and we're supposed to be the rescue party!" Mils says referring to his marines, and the colonists.

"Why didn't you warn them, Burke?" Ellen stresses, and in the face of her fury, Burke switches tactics, feigning something ostensibly.

"Okay, look - what if that ship didn't even exist? Did you ever think about that? I didn't know! So now, if I went and made a major _security_ situation out of it, _everybody_ steps in, _administration_ steps in, and there's _no_ exclusive rights for anybody. _Nobody wins_. So, I made a decision and it was...wrong! It was a bad call, people. It was a _bad call_..." Burke attempts, shrugging his shoulders and holding out his hands.

"Bad call?!…." Ellen asks, seeing the pitiful excuse for wasted lives that Burke's speechifying was.

"Right..." Burke nods his head before Ellen grabs him by the collar and slams him against a wall, startling Burke and causing Elizabeth and Mils to step in.

"_These people are __**DEAD**__, Burke_! Don't you have any idea what you've done here?! Well, _I'm_ going to make sure that they nail your hide to the wall for this. You're not going to _sleaze_ your way out of this one! Right to the wall!" Ellen shouts in his face.

"Hey come on! _Grandma_! Save it for the xenos!" Mils says holding his grandmother back. After looking back at her grandchildren, she releases him and begins to walk away.

"You know, Ripley, I expected more from you. I thought that you'd be smarter than this," Burke says in resignation.

"Then we're happy to disappoint you," Elizabeth smiles as the trio walk away.

As the trio walk back to Operations, with Ellen's rage still simmering, their stride is interrupted by the blaring of an alarm, and they sprint towards Hicks' location. Hicks turns off the alarm as his eyes jump to the console for the A & B sentry guns.

"What is it? What's going on?" Hudson asks running up with Stone and Vasquez.

"They're coming," Hicks says.

"Where?" Stone asks.

"In the tunnel," Hicks says, as the robot guns begin to fire relentlessly into the alien horde.

"Here we go. A and B guns, tracking and firing. _Multiple_ targets..." Hicks reports in awe as the echoes of the sentry guns and screaming xenomorphs fill the air.

"Look at those ammo counters go!" Hudson gasps.

"B-gun's down fifty percent."

"Man, it's a shooting gallery down there!" Mils swears under his breath. The weapons' magazines, he notices, have been depleted by half in only two minutes.

As the ammo begins to run low for the sentry guns, Elizabeth goes and grabs one of the detonators.

"Sixty rounds left on B-gun. Forty...twenty...ten...B-gun's dry. Twenty on A. Ten...five...that's it." Hicks says, leaning back in his chair as, after only three minutes, the ammo on the sentries finally runs out. Elizabeth then picks up the detonator for the first booby trap, ready to press the button.

Nobody says it, but it crosses every mind, the idea that the entire engagement should have lasted much longer than this. It was too quick, the whole thing over too soon, and now they are vulnerable.

"Shit. They're wall to wall in there!" Hudson says. Just then a loud thump is heard, and then another, and another, repeatedly without end.

"They're at the pressure door," Ellen notices. Each thump she hears tells her that the creatures are using an unbelievable amout of force with each blow. "They're throwing themselves against it…"

"Time to hang onto your asses..." Elizabeth says as she presses down on the trigger, causing the booby-trapped grenades to explode. With the transmission to the guns being cut, the only report of success they have is a muffled boom, a slight shaking of the control room and the cessation of the horrible thumping against the pressure door.

"Nice..." Mils smirks.

"Too close..." Ellen says.

"Yeah.." Hicks agrees, as out of nowhere Bishop contacts them.

"Bishop here! I'm afraid we have a problem." he says.

"Well that's a switch..." Hudson says over the shoulder, as they head over to find out what the android wants to show them.

They gather near an unshuttered window leading to the outside of the colony, one which faces one of the giant atmosphere processors, and after a few seconds of silence and a lack of action, Ellen speaks with mild annoyance.

"It's very pretty, Bishop, but what are we looking for?" she says, and almost in answer a jet of blue flame shoots out of the side of the atmospheric processor.

"Shit..." Elizabeth says to herself knowing what this might mean.

"That's it. Emergency venting." Bishop answers, pointing.

"What does that mean?" Stone asks Elizabeth in a hushed, fear-stricken voice, already suspecting the answer.

"It means that the atmosphere processor i-is now a ticking thermonuclear time bomb," Elizabeth hesitates as Mils exhales nervously. "Yeah, try saying that five times fast," she added, all the humour gone from her voice.

"How long until it blows?" Hicks asks dullly as Hudson walks away talking to himself.

"Ah, that's beautiful man. Ah, man that - that just beats it all!"

"Four hours. With a blast radius of... thirty kilometers, equal to about forty megatons," Bishop answers coldly, as the group walks away from the windows.

"Tsar Bomba's little brother..." Ellizabeth adds.

"We got problems..." Hicks says in a tired singsong voice as he turns away.

"I don't believe this, I don't fucking _believe_ this!" Hudson exclaims in frustration, feeling every ounce of betrayal the Universe had for him.

"Vasquez, close the shutters." Hicks says as Vasquez quietly complies, maybe a little frazzled by the situation.

"Why can't we shut it down from here?" Ellen asks Bishop and Elizabeth simultaneously.

"I'm sorry. When the dropship crashed into the processor it caused too much damage. An overload is inevitable at this point"

"Oh, man...and I was getting short. Four more weeks and out. Now I'm going to buy it on this rock! It ain't half fair, man!" Hudson yells out his frustration.

"Hudson, give us a break!" Vasquez yells.

"Four more weeks...oh man..." Hudson moans.

"Well, we've got to get the other dropship from the _Sulaco_. I mean, there must be some way of bringing it down on remote," Ellen says trying to come up with the best possible idea.

"How? The transmitter was on the APC!" Hudson explains.

"Yeah, It's wasted..." Stone agrees sadly.

"Well, we'd better think of something...we need a plan and fast, our lives on a four hour clock now!" Mils adds, slamming both fists onto the table in front of him, with all the force of a Marine who is now face to face with an enemy he can't fight.

"Think of what, we're fucked! We're doomed to this motherfucker!" Hudson yells, with all his military bearing finally gone and panic fully in its place.

"Shut up! _**SHUT UP!**_" Hicks screams repeatedly at the frightened young man. Turning to the others, he recovers his composure and begins to think. "What about the colony transmitters, the up-link tower down at the other end? Why can't we use that?"

"No, I checked," Bishop answered. "The hardwiring all between here and there is damaged. We can't align the dish."

"Well, somebody's going to have to go out there. Take a portable terminal and go out there and patch in manually," Elizabeth explains the obvious alternative, even as her throat catches on one or two words in her developing anxiety.

"Oh yeah, Sure! With those things running around?! You can count me out!" Hudson yells.

"Yeah, I guess we can just count you out of everything, huh?" Hicks responds sarcastically to Hudson, finally sickened by the young man's behaviour. The deep-seated panic and despair in Hudson, however, keeps Hudson oblivious to Hicks's disgust.

"That's right, man! Hey, why don't _you_ go, man?" he fires back.

"Why don't we just draw straws, guys?!" Stone asks incredulously.

"I'll go...I'll go" Bishop says quietly.

"What?" Ellen asks, unsure like the others of what she has just heard.

"I'll go. I mean, I'm the only one qualified to remote pilot the ship anyway," Bishop says.

"Hey, right, man. Bishop should go. Good idea!" Hudson states with wild eyes, concerned now only for his immediate survival.

"Ya know you don't have to do this, Bishop..." Mils interjects with hand on Bishop's shoulder and every ounce of sympathy he ever had for the synthetic. _Artificial person_, he reminded himself.

"Believe me, I'd prefer not to. I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid," Bishop says with a half smile, quieting everyone in the room.

Vasquez, Ellen and Bishop move into a secluded compartment, made available thanks to damaged flooring from the colonist's fight against the xenomorphs. Vasquez ignites a miniature oxyacetylene torch and cuts a hole into one of the air shafts, and Bishop pokes his head through the hole with a flashlight before sitting near the edge.

"How long?" Ellen asks.

"This service duct runs almost to the up-link assembly. One hundred eighty meters," Bishop explains as Ellen hands him a portable terminal and tools for the job at hand, which he inserts into the tube ahead of him.

"Say, forty minutes to crawl down there, an hour to patch in and align the antenna, thirty minutes to prep the ship, and about fifty minutes flight time," Bishop says, grunting as he lays on his back, Vasquez hands him a flashlight, and then offers him her pistol.

"It's going to be close," Ellen says as Bishop hands back Vasquez's pistol. "Good luck," she adds with a smile.

"See you soon. Watch your fingers," Bishop says returning the smile as the duct is sealed over him, with Vasquez grabbing her torch, as Bishop begins his long crawl.

"_Vaya con __D__ios_, man" she says as she uses the torch to seal the pipe.

The second set of sentry guns opens fire as multiple xenomorphs appear in the hallway, approaching more aggressively than they did before. Vasquez and Ellen run towards Hicks' position joined by Mils, Stone, Ellizabeth and Hudson ready to go, all fearing that the guns will run out of ammo like before.

"This is unbelievable! 20 meters and closing! Fifteen!" Hicks says looking at the monitors as the ammo counters on the guns decrease with every burst of fire.

"Safeties off, here we go!" Mils says gripping his pulse rifle, with Stone looking over her shoulder, as the security cameras show the droid guns blasting away.

"How many?" Ellen asks.

"Can't tell. Lots!" Hicks says looking at the monitors with awe. "D-gun's down fifty percent...C-gun's right behind it!"

"Jesus...they just ain't stopping 'em!" Hudson says.

"No shit, more targets than bullets!" Stone gasps.

"That's what happened before..." Elizabeth says reminiscing back to Ward's words.

"150 rounds on D."

"Come on, come on baby! Come on, D!" Hudson says, almost cheering the guns on.

"Fuck! Ellie, get ready!" Mils says as his sister readies the second detonator, the monitor alerting that the ammo count is going critical.

"D guns down to twenty...ten" Hicks says as the D sentry runs out, and he turns around grabbing his pulse rifle.

"Damnit!" Hicks jumps as the survivors prepare for battle, Ellen however notices something.

"Wait! They're retreating. The guns stopped them!" Ellen says as sweat pours down her head, and the survivors look at the monitors, seeing that C gun still has five rounds left.

"You're right," Hicks says in disbelief, wanting to see the counter read zero, and to hear the aliens slamming themselves against the pressure door like before.

"Chrissy? The charges," Elizabeth points out to her brother, who lopes forward to pick up the detonator. Perhaps a nanosecond passed between his pressure on the thumb trigger and detonation, as an explosion goes off, causing an identical muffled boom, cutting off the camera feed and shaking the room slightly.

"Shit, that'll put the exclamation point on things!"

"Maybe not," Hicks reported grimly. "We all saw the tactics they used. One strategy, swarm the target until they reach it. They don't think about throwing their lives away, so bullets and bombs will only hold them back as long as we have them, which now we don't. Next time the rest of them walk right up and knock..."

"Yeah, but they don't know that. They're probably looking for other ways to get in," Ellen theorizes.

"That'll take them awhile, hours that _we_ don't have, but that won't occur to them," Elizabeth adds.

"Maybe we got 'em demoralized," Hudson jokes harshly, but is quickly elbowed into silence by Vasquez.

"Shut up!" she utters as Hicks looks at them sternly.

"I want you two walking perimeter," he says. When they hesitate he affirms his order. "Move!" Hicks orders, but before the two can walk off he gives them some words of encouragement.

"Hey, listen. We're all in strung-out shape. All of us, I know that. But stay frosty, and alert. We can't afford to let _one_ of those bastards in here!" Hicks swears as they all look him in the eye.

"Yeah, right...Vámonos!" Vasquez hisses, smacking her fist on Hudson's chest armour, as the two of them move into the corridor. Mils and Stone walk up next.

"We'll make sure to keep them rotated, Hicks. You should get some rest too," Mils says tiredly, looking at his fellow corporal. "Man, you look just like I feel."

"I know, no rest for the wicked, and that means you and me both!" Hicks says with a smirk, turning back towards Ellen and Elizabeth, who looks towards her brother.

"I'll come with you and check on Gorman," Elizabeth says following the two marines. Ellen takes a sip of coffee long gone cold, tired but unwilling to show it.

"How long has it been since you got any sleep? Twenty-four hours?" Hicks asks, turning to her and seeing what the elder Ripley refuses to show. Her eyes show fatigue, but also fear and determination.

"Hicks, I'm not going to end up like those others. You'll take care of it, won't you?"

"If it comes to that? God forbid, but I'll do us both." She turns her head toward him reflexively, her eyes wide with anxiety, and he adds, "Hey listen, let's just make sure it _doesn't_ come to that. Alright?" He then picks up his pulse rifle. "I'd like to introduce you to a personal friend of mine. This is an M41A pulse rifle, 10mm, with over-and-under 30mm pump action grenade launcher. Feel the weight," Hicks says, racking the grenade magazine and handing the weapon over to Ellen.

"Okay, what do I do?" Ellen smiles, taking the weapon gratefully.

….

Bishop pushes onward, his artificial eyes optimised for enhanced vision in lightless environments, when he looks right through an acid-burned hole. He sees several xenomorphs moving around and pulls himself back slightly from the hole as the xenomorphs notice him, and one attacks with its inner jaws, causing an ear-piercing shriek of scraping metal. He waits a few seconds, looking at the slime-covered attack tongue, and when the creatures don't do anything more he continues forward, determined to make it to the uplink station, unconcerned about the sizeable dent the attack tongue produced in the service duct.

Elizabeth checks Gorman's vitals through a terminal, replacing the bandages around his head, as Mils walks up to talk to his sister.

"How is he?"

"Stable, he actually should wake up soon." she reports.

"I'd prefer sooner, I'm pretty sure carrying him is gonna be a headache we don't need..." Mils says, Stone slaps him on the ass getting his attention.

"Ouch! Ash!" Mils yelps.

"Sorry, you had a spider on the right cheek..." Stone says, smiling innocently.

"Yeah, yeah" he responds, not buying it. "Come on...see you in a few Ell..." Mils says dragging Stone along with him, as they walk into the hallway outside medical, Stone brings up an observation.

"Ya know...Vasquez and Drake were quite a couple before Drake bought it," Stone says walking down the hallway.

Yeah, she and Hudson bicker about it more than they did before..." Mils says.

"Honestly, I think it has something to do with Vasquez being on the market again, even if it _is_ under these circumstances..."

"Really? Hudson and Vas?"

"It's not such a crazy idea...I mean, I've caught Hicks looking at your grandma from time to time..."

Mils stops. "Oh that's just great, our glorious platoon has turned into a teen romance novel," he laments, even as the two have unconsciously moved closer together, stopping for a moment as they notice.

"Well then, I guess that would make you the jock and me the cheerleader..." Stone says nervously, placing her arms around Mils' neck, inching closer and closer.

"Always pictured you being a punk rocker..." Mils says, acting total oblivious to Stone's flirting, she looks at him with almost disbelief.

"Umm..."

"Maybe a goth phase here or there?"

"Stretch, just stop...let's just keep our eyes on Hudson, okay? I'm really worried about him," Stone says walking off in a huff.

"Okay, pull it in tight here," Hicks says as he helps her adjust her stance and her grip on the M41A.

"Right..."

"Lean into it," he adds.

"Uh huh," she complies as she elevates her aim slightly to conpensate.

"Alright," he confirms, "Now it will kick some. And when the counter reads zero here," he continues, pointing at the inbuilt ammunition counter on the outer magazine well. "You…?"

"I press this up?"

"That's right..." Hicks says as Ellen presses the magazine release and takes out the sliding magazine.

"Then, get another one in quick and slap it in hard...it likes abuse," he instructs as the magazine is placed back into the pulse rifle.

"Now you're ready to rock n' roll." Hicks says with quiet triumph, and Ellen nods as she notices the grenade launcher underneath.

"What's this?"

"Uh, that's the grenade launcher, I don't think you want to mess with that," Hicks admits, causing Ellen to look at him like he has just grown two more heads.

"You started this - show me everything. I can handle myself," Ellen smiles.

"Yeah, I noticed..." Hicks laughs to himself.

Ellen walks down the corridor towards Medical, cradling her new best friend now in her hands and almost looking like a professional soldier. Mils and Stone giving her a look of silent approval as she passes them, and then the door to Medical opens up, revealing Gorman with a bandaged head, looking slightly out of it, with Burke and Elizabeth behind him.

"How are you feeling?" Ellen asks, trying to break the ice.

"Alright I guess. Huh, one hell of a hangover," the lieutenant smirks. He gets a distant look for a split second, which immediately turns apologetic. "Look, Ripley, I just wanna -" Gorman begins, but Ellen interrupts him.

"Forget it...excuse me." Ellen says brushing past Burke, with Elizabeth in tow, Gorman steps out into the corridor, when he turns to the left and is met by the eyes of Vasquez with Hudson looking over her shoulder, both giving him a cold look, when he turns to his right he is met by equally cold eyes, belonging to Stone and Mils.

He turns back to Vasquez, the same contrite expression on his face, and asks plainly, "You still wanna kill me?"

Vasquez shrugs. "It won't be necessary."

….

"He seems to be okay. He might even be showing some humility," Elizabeth says, giving her grandmother an update.

"You haven't told him yet what Burke has done?" Ellen asks.

"Not yet, I wanna let him get a clear briefing of the situation from Hicks or Chrissy," Elizabeth says as she follows her into the medlab where Newt has been sleeping. Newt is not, however, on the cot where she was earlier placed.

"Where is she?" Ellen asks worriedly.

"She was just there...we checked the cameras," Elizabeth says as they both walk over to the cot. Ellen and Elizabeth immediately feel their worries fade, however, when they see where the young lady is located, under the cot, an old habit from her days hiding from her parents, or recently the xenomorphs.

"Welp, that explains it," Ellen laughs, "I'll stay with her," Ellen says, placing her weapon atop the cot and sliding under it, lying next to the girl.

"I'll keep watch and wake you if anything happens with Bishop..." Elizabeth say, moving to a nearby chair, placing her shotgun nearby.

"It's okay...it's okay," Ellen says as Newt seems to be having a nightmare, laying her head down on her arm, Elizabeth gets up when she hears a sound from around the hall, when she investigates she finds a cart with the three stasis chambered parasites, she looks at the vials closely.

"What the fuck are these doing here?" Elizabeth asks herself in alarm, as the parasites move in response to their surroundings. Just as she gets up to move away, she hears someone walk up behind her, and she turns expecting her brother.

"Chrissy?" Elizabeth goes to look, but is then hit with something heavy, falling to the floor unconscious with a thud.

At the uplink tower finally Bishop arrives at his destination, as lighting and electricity shoot out from the processor itself. He looks around, making sure the aliens aren't making a mad dash to overwhelm him, before he unpacks the portable terminal and begins connecting cables. Braving the elements, he begins quickly typing and hacking into the _Sulaco's_ controls.

Thousands of miles above still in orbit, the hanger of the _Sulaco_ after hours of being inactive comes to life, and the spare dropship moves into position ready to begin a combat drop.

….

Ellen wakes up with a start, looking around, and she breathes a sigh of relief as she gets her bearings, and sees Newt still next to her. She however sees something that no one could have prepared her for, her granddaughter, face-down and unconscious. She looks around again, concerned for Elizabeth's safety, and something else catches her eye.

Three stasis tubes lay open and empty on the floor, their contents spilled out.

Empty, where before each had contained a single facehugger. Her concern now turns to horror as she realises that three live facehuggers are loose and actively hunting them.

"Newt...Newt wake up!" Ellen whispers towards the young girl, shaking her shoulder urgently.

"What...?"

"Be quiet...we're in trouble. Follow me..." Ellen says, reaching over the cot to feel for the pulse rifle, when a strange sensation turns her horror to near-blind terror.

Nothing. There is nothing there. No rifle, no pistol, not even a single bullet, she curses to herself, swiftly heading towards where Elizabeth lays, and Ellen goes up and tries to shake her awake.

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth!" Ellen whispers for a few moments just as she begins to stir.

"Somebody get the number of that bus?" she jokes.

"Come on, we've got a problem..." Ellen says dragging her granddaughter along with her and Newt as they head towards the door, however when they try to go through it doesn't open.

"We need to move now! Come on!" Elizabeth says grabbing her shotgun, noticing that it only has one shell in it.

"Shit!" she swears. "Who ever KO'd me probably took most of my ammo with them."

"Did you see who it was?"

"No, I just turned and then, boom." Elizabeth answers, as the three women back themselves in a corner facing the room.

A flash of movement registers in Elizabeth's vision, and she shoves Ellen and Newt away from the wall towards the cot as a single parasite lands on the wall next to them. The trio jump frantically toward the cot, using it as a form of cover, when another parasite launches itself at them with blistering speed, and they flip the cot over trapping it underneath. Elizabeth, acting on instinct, prepares to shoot the cot, but the parasite scurries away in the darkness.

During the momentary ceasefire, they run over towards the security cameras yelling and screaming for the others to hear and see them.

"Hicks! Chris!" Ellen says waving her hands.

However, back in the operations center, Burke turns his back from the cameras, flipping a switch to turn off the camera feed.

"Help...Help!" Newt cries as nothing appears to happen, Ellen quickly thinking grabs her lighter and ignites it, lifting it up to the fire sprinkler. As the flame melts the sensitive metal fuse, it liquefies and pours away, and the alarm blares as the sprinklers spray their water on all cylinders in response to one cylinder's triggering. Ellen clutches Newt protectively as Elizabeth goes back to back with her, shotgun drawn.

Hicks sees the alarm's location calling out to the rest of the Marines as Gorman follows him.

"Hudson? Vasquez, everyone, meet me in Med-Lab, we've got a fire!" Hicks orders as he quickly grabs and checks a fire extinguisher.

"On our way!" Hudson says over the radio.

"They're coming, you two, they're coming...oh please," Ellen says stroking Newt's hair, slowly turning her head, and in a flash Ellen is rushed by a parasite that had been creeping over an instrument table, and its sheer force and speed knock her to the ground as she struggles with the horrific creature. Elizabeth goes to help as Newt screams long and loud, before she herself is tackled by a second one, and she drops the shotgun to free her hands, trying to hold the crazed facehugger away from her as best she can.

The third parasite sneaks up on Newt from behind a small desk. She notices the little monster, pressing the desk against the wall and trapping the parasite by its tail.

Ellen's struggle is nearing its end as her parasite has its tail around her throat now, pulling itself inexorably toward her open mouth and cutting off her oxygen, as its ovipositor searches singlemindedly for the sweet, sweet mouth and throat into which it must shove itself. The marines arrive outside the med-lab and stare in horror at what they are witnessing.

"Oh fuck man!" Hudson yells Mils and Hicks look at each other, the glass window and their squadmates.

"Shoot it out! Blast it!" they both command assertively, and Vasquez and Hudson, each armed with an M41A, comply, sending a hail of armour-piercing bullets into the glass as the two marines dive through separate windows, rolling around on the ground before getting their bearings, Hicks, Gorman and Vasquez heading for Ellen. Hudson steps through the window as Newt calls out to him.

"Hudson!"

"Jesus!" Hudson says racing over to her.

"Ash on me!" Mils orders as him and Stone head for Elizabeth.

"_Christ_, kid, look out!" Hudson says as he yanks Newt away from the desk, keeping the creature pinned behind it with his boot, and he opens fire on it, shredding it to bits of flesh and smoking liquid which react with the metal floor.

"Fucking die!" he says finally, the sense of satisfaction washing away his earlier despair and reminding him that he is still a Colonial Marine.

Mils makes a spring towards his sister kicking the beast away from her like a soccer ball.

"Stone!" Elizabeth yells as the private throws her shotgun over, as Mils pulls out his revolver, as his sister catches her shotgun, the two of them open fire, killing the creature in a burst of gunfire.

Vasquez, Hicks and Gorman all struggle to pry the insanely-struggling parasite off of Ellen, Hicks grabbing its tail, removing it from her at last as she gasps for air, and he and Gorman hold the thrashing monster in their hands, preparing to throw it.

"Over there! Ready?" Hicks asks Vasquez.

"Yeah...Yes!" Vasquez gun drawn.

"Now!" Hicks yells as the two throw the abomination across the room, Vasquez obliterates it with a quick burst.

"Hudson? Stretch?!" Hicks yells out to his fellow marines.

"All clear, Hicks!" Mils answers.

"We nailed the other two, they're history, man..." Hudson says as Newt runs up hugging Ellen quickly.

"Sonovabitch!" Mils says pressing his sister's head as she stands with Stone's support, and he pulls back to examine the bruise on his sister's face.

"Jesus..." Hicks says silently.

"Burke," Ellen coughs violently and sputters through a raw throat, and the marines look around at each other, Mils at his sister, his grandmother and Newt still shaken up by the whole situation as the elder Ripley places the blame on the one solely responsible. "It was Burke…"

In that moment Hicks, Hudson, Vasquez, Stone, Gorman, the younger Ripley and Mils all silently agree on one thing.

Carter Burke must die.


	12. Chapter 11: Game Time

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY.

ALIENS (NOVELIZATION) BY ALAN DEAN FOSTER

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

Beta'd, Chopped and Screwed by DarthTenebrus, any further mistakes are my own.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Chapter 11: Game Time**

Mils, Stone and Hicks lead the group back to Operations, marching almost in unison toward Burke's position. Hudson and Vasquez hold down the rear with Newt, the two Ripleys in the center shielding her from the front. Burke turns to look at them as they stride purposefully toward him, surprised but doing his best to hide it.

"Fire out?" He asks with a nervous smile, as Mils marches up to him with a cold stare in his eye, backing the bureaucrat into a nearby table.

"Yeah, it's out..." Mils says coldly, and then he delivers a strong rabbit punch to Burke's gut, causing him to gasp in pain as his diaphragm spasms, driving the air out of his lungs. Mils then grasps Burke around the throat with his free hand and slams him down onto the table, unholstering his revolver and shoving the barrel painfully against Burke's nose before the bureaucrat can think.

"The kid, my grandmother and my sister? You hit my fucking sister, and left all three of them for something worse than death?!" Mils growls, as the other Marines cautiously approach from the rear, taken somewhat by surprise by the actions of their comrade. Mils usually was cool under pressure, but this was different. This was family.

"I didn't -" Burke tries to explain, but is cut off by fear as Mils cocks the hammer, the cold double click causing the Company man to screw his eyes shut and whimper. Stone approaches Mils slowly, tenderly placing a hand on his chest.

"Chris? Chrissy? Come on, let it go. He's unarmed, we have him," Stone says in a hushed tone.

"She's right, Mils. Let him explain himself at least," Gorman says, trying to get through to his corporal as Ellen walks up to him.

"Chris, he's gotta go back. He'll pay for his crimes. We have him on record now for attempted murder," she says as Elizabeth walks slowly up to her brother, placing her hand on the arm clenching Burke's throat.

"Chrissy? Think of Mom & Dad, they wouldn't do this. Look at me. I'm fine, I'm alive, I'm okay. Don't do this - they didn't raise a murderer," Elizabeth says. Her last word stings Mils a little, and he thinks for a minute, his face contorting with rage as he struggles between sparing the life of the man in his grip and pulling the trigger. An eternity seems to pass before Mils finally withdraws his revolver and steps away from Burke.

"Thank you. I thought...I thought he was going to -" He starts to say before he is silenced by a swift knee to the groin from Elizabeth, followed by a surprisingly powerful uppercut to the jaw when he doubles over in pain.

"Keep your thanks, _asshole_!" Elizabeth snarls before she storms away to join her brother.

Gorman regards her martial display. "Well done, Dr Ripley. You'd make a decent Colonial Marine."

"Hell yeah, sir, remind me never to piss _her_ off!" Hudson says as the Weyland-Yutani puppet begins to recuperate. He barely has time to relax before Hudson grabs and throws him into a chair then shoves the muzzle of his weapon under his chin. "But I say we grease this rat-fuck son of a bitch right now!" he says, steaming with anger.

"This just doesn't make any goddamn sense!" Hicks says pacing back and forth. as Mils and Elizabeth look on from a distance away.

"_I_ think we can theorize a little," Elizabeth says as she and Ellen stand in front of Burke, looking him dead in the eyes.

"He figured that he could get an alien back through quarantine if one of us was...impregnated, whatever you call it," Ellen says.

"_Psicópata_!" Vasquez mutters as she grips her pulse rifle, struggling against the lesser angels of her nature to keep from making the Company man eat a full balanced meal of 10mm AP rounds and 30mm grenades.

"What you wanna call it?" Elizabeth chimes in.

"I think a better word would be infected. Yeah...then we'd be frozen for the trip home. Nobody would know about the embryos we were carrying - me, Elizabeth...and Newt." Ellen says, numb with horror as the picture forms with absolute clarity in her mind. The others listen, rapt with attention as horrific looks of disgust and fury begin to show on their faces.

"Hey, wait a minute, now. We'd all know - I mean, there'd be a report and everything!" Hicks says in disbelief.

"Yes, the only way he could do it is if he sabotaged certain freezers on the way home..." Ellen says looking at all the Marines. "Namely yours. Then he could jettison the bodies and make up any story he liked. Just like always..." Ellen states, causing them all to raise their weapons, aiming them just a little closer to Burke, ready to do what Mils had contemplated earlier.

"Carne muerta man...carne muerta!" Vasquez says at him, shakin her head slowly, her expression a mix of pity and disgust.

"You said it, _h__ermana_!" Stone echoes her.

"Fuck!" Hudson replies, outraged. "Oh, he's dead." He looks back at Burke, who looks in the private's eyes and quails. If Mils' eye was cold, Hudson's eyes were a promise that Burke would burn. "You hear that? You're dog meat, pal!" Hudson says, readying his pulse rifle as Burke looks at everyone and prepares a defense.

"This is so...nuts. I mean list - listen to what you're saying. It's paranoid delusion. You know, it's really sad. It's pathetic!" Burke says, finally resting his defiant gaze upon the _Nostromo_ survivor.

"I only see _one_ pathetic human being here..." Mils says twirling his revolver.

"You know Burke, I don't know which species is worse. You don't see _them_ fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage. And I thought Ash was bad..." Ellen says causing everyone to look at Stone in confusion.

"Different Ash..." Ellen quickly corrects herself. "I was talking about another corporate asshole, a droid that was assigned to my crew on the Nostromo to bring back one of them.."

There is a tense silence as the anticipation in the room seems to be amped up, while all turn to Hicks, looking in his eyes as he debates the issue internally. After a moment, he makes his decision and looks to Mils, who simply nods.

"Alright, we waste him." Hicks says, turning to grab Burke by his vest. He pulls him roughly to his feet, and the look in his eyes promises a world of pain. "No offense," he says coldly to the Company man, and he makes ready to throw him into the wall when Ellen tries to stop him.

"No, he's gotta go back - " she starts, but with no warning the whole room goes dark. Lights, alert tones, even monitor screens, all go black or deathly quiet, and in the next instant the room fills with the eerie red glow of emergency lighting. All look to each other as they run through a number of causes for the power loss. For Ellen Ripley, however, there is only one conclusion.

"They cut the power…!" Ellen says in an amazed and horrified whisper. She knows from her experience on the _Nostromo_ that the creatures possess an appreciable intelligence and cunning. But even she does not expect this degree of intelligence and strategic planning, not from them. She looks around at each face, and all are equally baffled, having even less experience in dealing with these supremely hostile creatures.

"What do you mean THEY cut the power?" Hudson protests in utter disbelief, and Ellen, to her surprise, finds herself sympathizing. "How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!"

"I want you two with trackers checking the corridors! Move!" Hicks orders firmly, knowing that when the aliens breach through to Operations that his small remnant of a platoon will not hold for long, and he starts searching for a way to retreat.

"Ash, on me! Get the IEDs!" Mils orders grabbing Stone as his sister prepares her shotgun.

"Gorman, watch Burke!" Ellen orders the Lieutenant who grabs Burke by the collar while cocking his pistol.

"I got him!" Gorman replies.

"Newt, stay close!" Ellen yells as Newt stays nearby with a flashlight.

Hudson and Vasquez move into the corridor with their motion trackers, the rhythmic clicks indicating a pressure wave going out regularly, with nothing showing up yet. With the power having just failed, Hudson forces the door open.

"I'll go to this side!" Hudson states as he parts the door sufficiently for the pair of them to pass through, and he goes to the right, while Vasquez goes to the left.

"You do that, man!" Vasquez replies as the two Marines move slowly down their respective corridors, scanning for any sign of movement.

As Mils and Stone place their IEDs, Mils notices Stone's hands shaking while setting up her explosive, and he places his hands over hers.

"Hey Ashley, breathe, you got this! Just breathe, I'm on your left, and I'm not leaving you..." Mils whispers into her ear, if it wasn't for the red lighting, everyone would've seen that Stone was blushing like a ripe tomato at the fact that Mils had just said her first name fully for the first time ever.

"And I'm on your right..." Stone smiles, priming the final IED. Her work done, they stand up and fall back to Hicks and Ellen's positions.

"You ready?" Mils says, looking at Ellen who has just picked up a nearby headset.

"Not really, but it doesn't matter now, does it?" She responds determinedly. "Anything?" She asks over the radio, as Stone crouches down next to Newt with a cylinder in her hand.

"Hey, sweetie, you see this? Well I need you to do me a favor, and when I tell you, you shout 'Fire in the hole!' as loud as you can, and then you press this red button real hard, okay?" Stone says handing it to Newt who nods at every direction, smiling at the chance to deal back some death to the monsters that killed off her whole family and made her an orphan. Stone ruffles the child's hair before standing up.

"There's something...it's inside the complex," Hudson reports, looking at his now-chiming tracker at multiple blips of movement appearing on his tracker screen.

"You're just reading me!" She says slightly annoyed over her shoulder as she holds out her tracker with one hand, her weapon pointed upwards as she holds it against her hip.

Hudson swiftly turns around, sharply doing a 180, and the display on his tracker screen rotates with him, showing more of the same. Whatever is moving around in range of their trackers, they have the Marines surrounded.

"No, no, it ain't you. They're inside, inside the perimeter! They're in here!" Hudson says shakily.

"Hudson stay cool! Vasquez?!" Ellen says over the radio, Vasquez then begins to get a response on her tracker. One tracker might fail to give a proper reading, but not two, which is why every team had at least two motion trackers as part of their TO&E.

"Hudson may be right..." Vasquez finally admits.

"Get back, both of you!" Ellen orders as Elizabeth arrives with her shotgun fully loaded.

"The signal's weird! Must be some interference or something… There's movement all over the place!" Hudson says spinning around left and right in near-panic, double-checking for any changes in the opposition's movement patterns.

"Get back to operations!" Hicks orders as the survivors all prepare their weapons for use and their hearts for war. "It's game time," he says looking at everyone.

"Newt..." Ellen says, getting the child's attention, and one look in her eyes prompts her to hustle to her side and behind her. Vasquez moves through the door first, followed by Hudson who stays up front to help Hicks close the door.

"Come on! Get back!" Mils orders as the door closes and Hudson moves next to them.

"Work fast!" Hicks says as he and Vasquez pull out their hand torches, and they begin to melt the metal composite and weld the doors together.

"Cover your eyes, honey. Don't look at the light," Elizabeth cautions the girl, shielding her with her leg as Ellen covers Newt's face with her hands. Hudson's tracker keeps increasing it's rhythmic beat despite no sign of the aliens.

"Movement! Signal's clean. Range, twenty metres," Hudson reports.

"They found a way in?" Stone asks Mils.

"Something we missed?" Mils replies, finishing her thought.

"We didn't miss anything!" Hicks tells them both with force and confidence as he and Vasquez focus on their welds. It wouldn't pass an X-ray test, they both knew, but then again the Marines know they have neither the resources, the personnel, nor the time for a proper test. Besides, it only has to hold the creatures off long enough for them to get away cleanly.

"Something under the floor, not in the plans. I don't know!" Ellen admits frustratedly as her motion tracker counts down the distance between them and certain doom.

"Eighteen...seventeen metres!" Hudson reports shakingly, but at least with some calm returning to his voice.

"Under the floor, huh? Sneaky bastards," Elizabeth curses.

"Fifteen metres," Hudson calls out.

"Mommy? Dr Ripley?" Newt urges the Ripley women, tugging on each of their shirt sleeves to get their attention. "Let's go."

"Definitely inside the barricades..." Mils says.

"Thirteen metres!"

"That's right outside the door! Hicks, Vasquez, get back!" Ellen yells.

"Man, this a big fucking signal!" Hudson opines, his brief moment of calm already departing.

"How we doing, Vasquez? Talk to me!" Hicks asks as molten sparks fall and splash around them both.

"Almost there! Almost...that's it!" Vasquez announces as she and Hicks close down and stow their torches, falling quickly back to the others' position.

"Twelve metres...eleven...ten!" Hudson yells, and everyone prepares themselves, knowing the enemy has come, ready for the unexpected.

"Man, they're right on us!" Vasquez herself backing up reflexively. The M41A was not her usual weapon, and the M56 smartgun requires range to function best. It doesn't matter now, and she doesn't think much more about it. She is a Marine, born and bred for battle.

"Remember - short, controlled bursts!" Hicks reminds them all, knowing their ammunition is finite and the enemy is numerous.

"May God be with us..." Mils prays.

"Nine metres….eight meters...seven...six!"

"That can't be! _T__hat's inside the room_!" Ellen protests.

"It's readin' right, man! Look!" Hudson says, gesticulating with his motion tracker to anyone who would look as it displays a vast multitude of targets.

"Well, you're not reading _it _right!" Hicks yells. Ellen looks at hers in a huff, not wanting to believe Hudson due to his past behavior. She looks in horror as her tracker's display confirms what he sees.

"Five metres, man! Four! _What the hell_?!" Hudson yells, as Ellen makes eye contact with Elizabeth, whose face has gone pale, an impressive feat in the intense red light and an indicator of the horror she has just understood.

_Something under the floor, not in the plans…_

_Under the floor. Or…._

Her granddaughter stares up at the ceiling, its massive vent holes staring back at them.

"Oh my God! Oh shit!" Hudson yells in terror, as he and the others finally arrive at the same conclusion, and they look slowly to the ceiling, not wanting to see what he and Ellen both see.

"Give me the light!" Hicks yells as he climbs up on a file cabinet with a flashlight. He pushes a vent cover up slowly with his pulse rifle to turn his light inside the vented ceiling. Its intense beam reflects off the nearest in a horde of xenomorphs, barely inches away and close enough to brush him with its talons.

Hicks screams in fright, not sparing a thought for where he might fall as he fires blindly into the ceiling. He just falls, his Marines rushing to his aid as xenomorphs begin to fall through the ceiling nearly a dozen at a time.

"There they go, over there! Get 'em!" Hudson yells throwing the tracker as he and the other marines open fire, and Stone looks over to Newt.

"Newt? Now, do it now!" She yells.

"Fire in the hole!" Newt presses down on the detonator with all the strength in her tiny hands, and the IEDs all explode with great effect, killing a dozen aliens instantly while throwing more to the ground with the blast wave. For a moment she stares wide-eyed, and then the moment passes and she whoops with delight at wreaking vengeance on the monsters.

"Way to go, little Marine!" Stone shouts.

"Come on, get these sons of bitches!" Mils says opening fire, as Elizabeth fires shot after shot into the mass and Stone's flamethrower vomits death towards the horde, causing them to retreat slightly.

"Do something, Gorman!" Burke yells over the chaos as Gorman fires with his pistol, and the distraction works as Burke runs away around the corner.

"Medical! Get to Medical! Do it! Now!" Ellen yells over the small arms fire, and as she moves around the corner she is spotted by a single xenomorph who charges at her, eager for the kill. Ellen quickly looks over her weapon to ensure its readiness, and satisfied, takes aim and squeezes the trigger.

Nothing.

She fights the temptation to give in to panic, checking the weapon again, and finally noticing the selector lever set to 'safe'. She clicks it into place and tries again, and is surprised by the pulse rifle's recoil as it lets loose with three bursts of four rounds each, which impact the shrieking creature in front of her in centre of mass, shredding it.

"Now!" She yells and rushes for the door, dragging Newt along for the ride as it were as she rounds the corner. Fate seems to laugh at her, however, as she sees Burke closing the door to Medical between him and them, cutting them off and denying them salvation.

"Bastard! Open this door. Burke! Open it!" Ellen demands, hitting the door with her fist in anger, looking back to the front line where the other survivors spray fire and steel death into the swarm.

"Look out! Look out! There's more of them! More of them!" Hudson yells.

"I fucking noticed!" Stone says spraying a thick line of flame at the wall, where it rebounds and fries a pair of aliens behind the main group, boiling them in their own body fluids.

"Hudson! Fall back! Hudson, let's go, fall back!" Mils says, lunging and grabbing Hudson and dragging him with him.

"Yeah get some! Get some Baby!" Mils yells firing as he moves.

"Come oooooonnn! Let's go! Come on, let's go, let's go! Fall back!" Hicks says as Vasquez vaults a crate to join him, Stone and Elizabeth not far behind, as Mils and Hudson spray death upon the xenomorphs.

"Die motherfucker! _Die __m__otherfucker!__" _ Hudson yells as he moves in tandem with Mils.

"Mils! Hudson!" Hicks yells, firing in a wide arc in front of him as he lets Mils pass behind. Hudson stands alone, letting loose with his weapon and the harshest stream of invective he can conjure forth at every target he lays his eyes upon.

"Motherfucker! Come on! Come and get it, baby! _I don't got all day__,__c__ome on!_ Come on, you bastard! Come on, you too! Oh, _you_ want some of this? Fuck _you_!" Hudson yells as Mils falls back behind him. The floor plating begins to shift under him, to creak and bang, and he senses it rather than sees it, not actually noticing due to his intensive swearing and rifle fire and the xenomorphs' agonized screaming and screeching. By sheer luck, Elizabeth and Hicks look to Hudson and leap into action, pulling the private back from the floor plating just as it gives way, revealing a xenomorph, just one of many that took the other way around to surround the humans.

"Fuck you, you cockroach!" Stone fries the bug with a stream of fire from her flamethrower as Hudson juliennes it with his rifle, and Hudson looks at the sight and his two heroes.

"Thanks you two! I owe ya one!" he begins, but is cut off by Elizabeth shooting a shell into a charging xenomorph.

"Make that one apiece," Elizabeth says. "Let's move!"

Gorman moves to join Hicks and the elder Ripley at the door to Medical, equally frustrated at the bureaucrat's cowardly act.

"Burke!"

"Hicks get back there!" Vasquez orders as the corporal runs to see what the situation is, and upon arriving he pulls out his welding torch, and begins to melt through the lock.

"Let's go! Stone, Ellie! Get back now!" Mils yells as Elizabeth and Stone enthusiastically follows the order.

"Grenades, amigos!" Mils yells as he, Hudson and Vasquez form a line abreast and fire a volley of grenades, causing more destruction in their path, as Hicks finally melts the door lock causing the door to open, and the Marines rush in.

"Alright...let's go!" Hicks orders. Ellen is in first and sees Burke run away into another secluded room, closing the door, and she decides to pursue him, the Marines following.

Hicks hands Vasquez the torch. "Seal it!" he orders as the remaining Marines stack up on the door, ready to break down.

"Burke! Goddamn you open this door!" Ellen screams, as Burke retreats across the messy room moving to a nearby door which opens, as he turns however he comes face to face with a xenomorph, his own creation…

"Hurry up!" Vasquez says, racing against time and the hive as xenomorphs hurl themselves against the door.

"We gotta plan, man?!" Hudson yells in question.

"Working on it!" Mils yells.

"This way!" Newt says suddenly pointing to a nearby air vent, one larger than the ones others have encountered in the past, she unlatches the cover and begins to move into it, Ellen however pulls her back.

"Wait, get behind me!" Ellen says as she enters the duct followed by her granddaughter.

"Come on Chrissy!" she yells.

"Hudson we got an opening, let's go!" Mils yells ordering him into the air duct.

"Come on, Vas!" Hudson yells, looking desperately at his squadmate.

"Whatever you're going to do, do it fast!" she yells urgently, each impact against the door causing it to buckle more and more as Hicks moves into the vent with Gorman.

"Get in there Ash!" Mils orders.

"But, Chris!"

"I don't care what you smell! Get in there and don't worry about it!" Mils yells as she lunges through the vent into the duct after Gorman.

"Done!" Vasquez yells removing herself from the door, waiting to fire.

"Ain't no time to be a hero!" Hudson says grabbing her by the arm, dragging her into the vent after Mils.

"Get the fuck off me!"

"I'm saving your life, Vas!"

"Will both of you get the fuck in here!" Mils yells at the two bickering privates, while the two Ripleys plus Newt arrive at a three way junction.

"Which way is it to the landing field from here?!" Elizabeth asks.

"This way!" Newt answers as the two women follow her lead, at the same time looking over their shoulders. On the other end of the duct, Vasquez, Hudson and Mils follow Stone, Gorman and Hicks.

"Alright folks, follow that perfect ass!" Mils yells firing over Hudson and Vasquez's shoulders, referring to Stone's posterior.

"I have a booty, Mils, not an ass," Stone corrects him curtly.

"I don't care! Must go faster!"

"Got it!" Hudson yells doing the same while firing.

"Just keep moving you guys!" Stone yells back.

Newt guides the women down several twists and turns.

"This way! This way! Go right! Straight ahead and left!" The young lady directs ahead of the Marines' organized retreat.

"Bishop? Do you read me? Come in, over!" Hicks yells into the radio.

"The ship is on its way," Bishop responds at the relay station over radio, having to yell to be heard as the storm rages on. "E.T.A. sixteen minutes!"

"Good! Stand by there! We're on our way!" Hicks yells as the group moves through the cramped space.

"Which way now?" Ellen asks hurriedly.

"That way...no wait this way!" Newt says after a moment of sudden remembrance.

"You sure?" Ellen says looking over her shoulder, where she sees Vasquez firing blindly at the random xenos that keep chasing them until her magazine empties.

"Vasquez, move!" shouts Gorman at a nearby intersection, with Hicks watching over him. She drops her rifle and unholsters her pistol, just as they approach a section with another duct merging from above. She looks up and sees a xenomorph tumbling towards her. It tackles her and goes for a jaw attack, but she recovers quickly and slams the creature's elongated head against the wall with her boot with a snarl, then aims her pistol at the front of its head where she assumes it is most vulnerable and fires repeatedly with all the rage she can muster. The first three rounds, even at point-blank range, have no effect, which angers her. The fourth round manages to crack its outer carapace, allowing the fifth round entry into the soft tissues, causing the creature to spasm fitfully in death throes. Its blood spills from Vasquez's lethal gift of the head wound, spraying on the walls of the air duct. A few tiny drops land on her legs, burning them severely, the blinding pain causing her to scream, and Mils and Hudson move quickly in response.

"Shit! Ash, get down here!" Mils yells into the radio, as Hudson helps move her into a more comfortable position, with Stone arriving only moments later.

"Fuck! Stay with us _h__ermana_!" Stone says as Mils and Hudson open fire on the approaching Xenomorphs.

Gorman and Hicks hear the commotion over the radio.

"What's going on back there, Mils?!" Gorman yells.

"Vasquez is down, El-Tee! Acid burn!"

Hicks starts toward his downed smartgun operator when the lieutenant stops him.

"Hold on, Hicks, I'll go back there! You get those civvies to safety, that's an order! GO!" Gorman says slapping Hicks on the shoulder.

At the other end of the duct, the marines begin to be bogged down by consistent xenomorph activity. So far the aliens have only appeared from behind, but their vast numbers have caused the Marines to turn every few steps and fire, slowing them down, and at last they begin to understand the relentless nature of this species.

"Stretch, we need to move now man!" Hudson yells.

"They're too many!" Mils yells back as he fires, not daring to take his eyes off his targets. Just then Gorman arrives, picking up Vasquez's Pulse Rifle, and as he looks at each of the young marines in his charge, he contemplates his next course of action.

"Mils! Get your squad out of here!" Gorman orders, inserting a fresh magazine into the weapon and charging it.

"What?! What are _you_ gonna do?!" Stone asks in shock.

"I'm going to give you some cover!" Gorman answers honestly.

"Yeah, how? Uh, sir?" she scoffs, but the look in his eyes tells her all she needs to know. She nods, and looks silently to Mils, who hands a grenade to Gorman.

"You always were an asshole Gorman..." Vasquez mutters as she starts to lose consciousness.

"Tell me something I don't know," he replies with a smirk. He turns to the others. "Now go! Stay alive, that's an order!" Gorman yells as Mils, Stone, Vasquez and Hudson take one more look at their CO, as Hudson helps move Vasquez, with Mils guarding the rear.

The two women on point continue to follow Newt's lead as she points the way ahead.

"Almost there!" Newt yells.

"We need to slow down! Chrissy's back there! Ellen I'll stay behind and link up with them!" Elizabeth suggests.

"Alright, you better meet me on the other side of this vent!" Ellen says placing a hand on her granddaughter's shoulder before she turns and follows Newt. "Newt! Wait! Newt!"

Hudson, and Stone drag Vasquez as they link up with Hicks.

"Jesus! Where's Gorman?" he asks.

"He's holding the line, we need to move now!" Mils says, handing Hicks the spare magazines.

Gorman meanwhile lays down burst after burst as his back is against the wall of the duct. Though he was a career officer, he never considered himself a career solider until now. Now he was proving himself and redeeming himself from the Charlie Foxtrot that was their first encounter with the xenomorphs.

Elizabeth finally meets up with the marines and takes Vasquez, injecting her with an anesthetic to ease her pain.

"We need to get her to your ship's med-bay...NOW!" Elizabeth yells as Hicks catches up to her.

"We will, Ellie, now come on!" he yells as the group sees light at the end of the literal tunnel, as Ellen and Newt exit through the vent.

"Newt?" Ellen inquires.

"Up there, there's a short-cut across the roof," Newt points out, with a giant fan in the shape of a wheel blocking their path leading to a ladder, and as the remaining survivors emerge from the ventilation system, Hudson shifts his weight and picks a nearly unconscious Vasquez up bridal style.

Ellen turns around to look at the group. "Where's Gorman?!"

"He stayed behind..." Mils says mournfully.

The Lieutenant empties his last bullet into another xenomorph with a second one creeping towards him like a lion, he pulls out two grenades he's been hiding and presses down on the fuse buttons, and he holds them close to his body, yelling one more phrase.

"_OO-RAH_!" he yells as an explosion follows suit, killing him and several xenomorphs nearby. The tight confines of the ventilation ducts channel and amplify the blast wave, sending shock waves much farther than their specified casualty radius. The amplified shock wave also sends a sudden gust of superheated air out the vent, throwing all the Marines off balance, and inadvertently sending Newt falling in between the slats of the wheel fan.

"Newt! Newt! God!" Ellen yells, running towards her.

"We gotta get her!" Hudson yells as Hicks places his Pulse rifle in between the gear like structure, jamming it.

"Here, Ellen! Human Chain!" Mils yells as he grabs Ellen's hand letting the woman reach for the child.

"I'm slipping! Ripley! Help!"

"Don't let go! Almost there!" Ellen yells as she grabs the leather coat that Newt is wearing, however due to the coat being oversized Ellen causes Newt to fall out of the coat, she slides screaming down a graded duct and out of the group's sight.

"Newt! No!"

"Fuck!" Mils says punching the wall, a thought however comes to Hicks mind, he looks down at his wrist console, and notices the beeping from the wrist bracelet he gave to Ellen is getting farther away.

"Come on, we can find her with this!" He says referring to the tracker.

"Well then what are waiting for? Let's get that kid!" Stone yells, as Elizabeth yells down the hole.

"Stay where you are Newt!" she says as the group moves to find the child they've all become so protective of.

"We're coming Kid!" Mils says.

….

Hicks kicks a vent cover open as the group moves onto a walkway, following the beeping, while Newt stands in a waist-deep pool of dirty water.

The group move down a stairwell, intent on finding the child.

"This way... she's close!" Hicks says as the group follows.

"Newt!" Ellen yells looking below her through the grated floor.

"Ripley!?" she suddenly hears.

"Where are you! Can you hear us?!" Ellen yells as the group nears the girl, Newt looks up seeing the group.

"Here! I'm here!" She yells trying to get the group's attention.

"Here! She's here! Over here!" Stone yells, as Newt's fingers shine through the grated floor, Ellen immediately slides to grip her fingers reassuringly as the group lightens up a little. At the same time Hicks tries to pull the grating up with no success.

"We're gonna have to cut it!" he grunts.

Ellen shines the flashlight down to Newt. "Climb down, honey. We've gotta cut through."

"Hey kiddo, we're gonna get you out of there...hold tight!" Mils says getting down one knee as Hicks began to cut through the grate with his torch.

"You're doing great they're almost there!" Elizabeth says trying to sooth the child.

"Okay..." Newt says , suddenly Ellen's motion tracker comes to life.

"Shit...shit...shit!" Hudson yells, and the echoing ping of the motion tracker prompts all to ready their weapons.

"They're close..." Elizabeth says.

"Hurry, Hicks!" her grandmother stresses. "They're getting closer! _I mean it!_"

"I know...I know..." Hicks yells back, as just as the grate begins to give way with the Mils and Hicks kicking the grate down, a black shadow emerges from the water grabbing Newt suddenly, and as she screams the group looks on in horror, only leaving the doll's head behind.

"NOOOO!" Ellen tries to jump into the water, but is held by Mils and Ellizabeth.

"No! N-No! They don't kill you, they-! They don't kill you, they - ! _She's __ALIVE__! SHE'S ALIVE_!" Ellen screams in fear and rage.

"Alright, I believe you, she's alive...but we've gotta go! NOW!" Hicks yells, restraining her to calm her down and get her to focus, as they stand and follow the group towards two elevators, Mils, Stone, Hudson and an unconscious Vasquez taking one while the two Ripley's and Hicks get in the other.

….

In the first elevator, Hudson holds an unconscious Vasquez, while Mils and Stone lean on the wall of the elevator.

"They better not harm a hair on her head Chrissy!" Stone growls.

"They won't Ash, not if _we_ have anything to say about it!" he reassures her.

"Looks like it's time for us to be the heroes again, huh?!" Hudson asks rhetorically, Mils looks at the sight of an unconscious Vasquez in the arms of Hudson, smirking to himself.

"It's like they're literally bride and groom now!" Mils says as Stone laughs.

"What? Sparks, how the fuck can you and Stretch laugh at a fucking time like this?!"

"Nothing Hud! Let's do this!" he says with a chuckle as the doors to the elevator open.

In Hicks, Ellen's and Ellizabeth' s elevator, Hicks catches his breath while Elizabeth holds Ellen, looking with alarm at the pinging motion tracker. She repeatedly slams the button to close the doors

"We'll find her, you know we will -!" she gets out, and then is interrupted by a xenomorph who blasts through the open door of the elevator. Hicks opens fire out of instinct, blasting the head of the beast to shreds, but unfortunately spraying himself with acidic blood as well, and he groans in pain and suppressed fear.

"Get it off! Get it off!" he grunts as the two women scramble to unclip the chest and back plates, which fall away showing signs of severe damage. The two women lift him up, supporting him on their shoulders as the door to the elevator opens to the screaming winds of Acheron.

….

The two women help Hicks out of the elevator, making their way towards Bishop with Mils' group in tow as the dropship lands.

"What the fuck happened?!" Mils yells.

"We ran into an old friend! Come on Hicks, stay with us!" Elizabeth yells back as they approach Bishop from behind.

"Bishop?! How much time?!" Ellen shouts over the snarling wind.

"Plenty! 26 minutes!" He replies.

"We're not leaving!" Ellen yells as they all head up the ramp of the dropship.

"We're not?" Bishop asks, confused.

"This party's just get started, B!" Stone yells running into the dropship, Bishop following her. Moments later the ramp closes and the engines begin to scream over the wind, and the UD-4L lifts off, turning toward the atmosphere processor.

….

Big shoutout once again to DarthTenebrus for beta reading and editing this chapter.

So some people are probably wondering why Hudson and Vasquez are spared in my fic, well first of all they are two of my all time favorite characters of the franchise (and yes I ship them!), I felt that with additional marines/survivors along for the ride, their deaths would be averted.

Gorman's death however I felt was necessary as he needed to redeem himself for the snafu earlier and go out fighting like a true marine.

Additionally, if anyone is willing to do any fan art (either free or for a price) shoot me over a PM, we're almost near the end of this bad boy, so stay tuned, and as always favorite, follow and leave a review.

Thanks EAP404


	13. Chapter 12: The Final RescueShowdown

ALIENS IS OWNED BY 20TH CENTURY FOX/DISNEY.

ALIENS (NOVELIZATION) BY ALAN DEAN FOSTER

THE OCS (ALL FOUR OF THEM) ARE OWNED BY ME.

Beta'd, Chopped and Screwed by DarthTenebrus, any further mistakes are my own.

**ALIENS: NOT ALONE**

**Chapter 12: The Final Rescue, and The Final Showdown.**

The dropship fires off towards the massive atmospheric processor. Bishop, staring ahead at the huge structure, pilots the armored craft, a little unsure of what is about to happen.

In the back of the dropship, the remainder of Bravo Team, the seemingly unstoppable badasses of the Colonial Marines, prepare themselves for one more mission. Of the original dozen sent to liberate Hadley's Hope only quarters remain. Hicks and Vasquez have been placed in the seats of the dropship, getting medical treatment from Hudson and Elizabeth.

"Alright, Vas? Vasquez! This is gonna hurt a little, señorita," Hudson states, injecting Vasquez's injured legs with an autosyringe of anesthazine, causing ger to gasp sharply, while Hudson holds his squadmate to keep her from moving around too much.

Elizabeth approaches Hudson from the side. "How is she?" she asks.

"You tell me, man, I ain't a doctor."

"Welp, neither am I. Botanist by trade...shit happens though, right?" Elizabeth quips.

"Story of my fucking life, man," Hudson responds as Elizabeth helps Hicks inject himself with an autosyringe.

"Here, you need to aim for the main vein. Here," Elizabeth corrects him, sitting down to grasp the syringe and ease it into the vein as Hicks holds a antiseptic towelette to his head, the better to stop any more damage being done to his cranium from his close encounter with a xenomorph.

"Ugh. You're definitely Stretch's sister. Way too blunt not to be..." Hicks gasps out. Elizabeth laughs under her breath as she takes a roll of medical tape and wraps it around the towelette on his head.

"I'll take that as a compliment," she smiles, looking over towards the other occupants of the dropship. Stone is grabbing as many magazines as possible for Pulse Rifles, dropping them on a workbench. Ellen, and Mils prepare a varied array of weapons, Mils laying out four pulse rifles while Ellen grabs several flamethrowers from the weapons rack.

"Okay, time to improvise. Now both these beauties weigh a little, so we'll have to combine them..." Mils says grabbing some nearby duct tape, he lays a single pulse rifle down first while placing as gently as possible a single flamethrower on top. He then ducts tapes the two weapons' barrels together. He grabs extra grenades as well as some spare magazines from Stone, with Ellen and Stone mirroring his action. Ellen additionally grabs some contact flares, as well as taping Hicks's locator over the barrel of one of the pulse rifles. Elizabeth walks over to them briskly with her shotgun in her hands, the butt stock extended.

"Hey - ohh nice! Do we have a plan?" Elizabeth asks looking at the layout of death.

"Find the kid, bring her back. Kill any fucker who gets in our way." Stone says looking over her weapon.

"Not without me you're not..." Elizabeth says shouldering the shotgun, while grabbing a pulse rifle.

"I don't think I have time to give you a lecture on how to - " Mils begins, but is stopped when his sister unloads and loads the weapon properly in record time.

"You seem to forget I have a doctorate, and I've been watching all of you load and operate them. Seems pretty simple, doesn't it Chrissy?" Elizabeth says, smirking.

"You two are definitely related..." Stone quips, shaking her head and walking away from the table.

Ellen hasn't said two words since Newt was taken. Her silence is thunderous, she is focused and pissed off. Mils and Elizabeth both notice this.

"Ellen? Grandma?" Elizabeth calls out, trying to get her grandmother's attention, when Ellen looks up sharply, her lack of sleep takes it toll on her as when she does, she doesn't see her grandchildren, before her she sees her daughter Amanda and crew mate Andrew.

She is surprised at first, just staring at the sight in front of her, Amanda almost the same age as her, looks on expectantly almost like asking "Where have you been all this time?" Andrew looks on with equal wonder, almost as if stating "Wish I was there..." She blinks a few times, her vision clearing and the metamorphic image of her past fades. She looks down at her hands, dirty, bloodied and scared. She reminds herself that Amanda is gone, and that Andrew's future is as unclear as hers.

She looks back up this time, her vision clear and true, and she sees part of her future in front of her, a new world with her two grandchildren before her, and hopefully that future will include a young girl that none of them want to lose.

Bishop guides the dropship through the massive cavities of the processor with bolts of electricity with gigantic pieces of shrapnel descending from the ceiling. Arriving at a good drop-off point, a large balcony, he places the dropship in autopiloted hover mode, and briefly leaves the controls, walking over to the group.

"Ripley?" he says.

"I don't wanna hear it Bishop! She's alive, and there's still time!" Ellen retorts with grim determination, walking away with her pulse rifle/flamethrower hybrid weapon. Bishop looks at the twins.

"In 19 minutes this area's gonna be a cloud of vapor the size of Nebraska."

"Bishop, we won't be gone long, so you'd better be here." Ellizabeth says locking gazes with the android, her voice is filled with quieted rage, leaving no doubt as to her intentions should the opposite occur, illogical as it seems. The pair walk over to Hudson, who is next to an unconscious Vasquez and a barely conscious Hicks.

"Hicks, don't let him leave!" Mils orders

"We ain't going anywhere..." Hicks grunts out in pain.

"What about me man? I can still kick some ass!" Hudson asks.

"We're gonna need an extraction team. One ultimate badass will have to do," Mils states.

"You better bring that kid back man!" Hudson says, and he and Mils grasp each other in a strong macho handshake, as Ellen walks up from behind.

"See you, Hicks..." she says looking at the wounded Corporal.

"Dwayne...it's Dwayne..." he responds as Ellen smiles.

"Dwayne...I like it..." she responds.

"Always thought you were a Michael for some reason," Stone says walking over.

"Don't be gone long, Ellen..." Hicks rasps.

"Hudson! You better be here when we get back!" Ellen says getting back into business mode.

"You know it man! Just have the kid with ya!" Hudson says as he and Bishop look at the group readying themselves to exit into the hell of the atmospheric processor and the alien nest.

"Guess this is it huh?" Stone says, taking a few short breaths.

"Yeah, back to where it all went to shit in first place," Mils responds, his voice acknowledging the morbid irony of the situation.

"Good time for good luck kiss, right?" Stone says in a genuinely joking way. What happens next shocks all three women as Mils grabs Stone suddenly, turns her towards him and lays upon her a kiss that he has been holding in for so long. The two Ripley women exchange surprised looks, but eventually allow smiles to appear on their faces.

Stone herself let a gasp of joy, surprise and love escape her occupied lips. She has wanted this for so long, now she had gotten what she had wished for, her best friend and the love of her life kissing her tenderly. She returns the kiss with equal favor, wrapping her arms around Mils' neck. The two marines continue to kiss each other for several seconds, not wanting anyone or anything to interrupt them.

They finally break apart, gasping for air.

"Ashley, I have wanted to do that for so long, but I just couldn't find the time."

"Ditto.." Stone responds breathlessly. Barely a second later she lets out a party-girl yell of victory.

"WOOOO-HOOOOOO!" she screams, jumping for joy as high as the weight of her armour and weapons will allow her.

"That's my party-girl!" Hudson congratulates her, and even Vasquez wakes up briefly from the commotion, just long enough to see her and thump her own chest twice, giving her a thumbs-up and a smile before she drops asleep again.

"You two coming?" Elizabeth asks as the doors to the dropship open up, and the group is lowered with the railing.

"Right behind you, Ellie," Mils says following his family members.

"Your grandfather would be proud, Christopher," Ellen says as she leads the group off the ramp.

They hustle towards a nearby elevator as an emergency message blares over the airwaves along with a siren.

"Attention. Emergency. All personnel must evacuate immediately. You now have seventeen minutes to reach minimum safe distance."

Ellen presses a button nearby, opening the doors to the elevator, and they all point their weapons towards the opening elevator, breathing a sigh of relief when it doesn't reveal any xenomorphs. They hustle inside as the doors close and the elevator descends, knowing this has only begun.

"Okay, we find the kid, and hopefully we don't get bogged down. Gotta keep moving..." Mils orders as Ellen loads her pulse rifle with additional grenades and hands out flares to the others.

"We'll find her..." Elizabeth says as she and Ellen take their jackets off, and put on combat harnesses to make the weapons and ammunition easier to carry. The floor counter descends rapidly with the elevator's movement.

"Hard to think how much has changed in such a short time," Ellen observes all of a sudden. "Not two weeks ago I was waking up from what I thought was a only a few months only to find it's been several decades, I learned my only daughter was gone, and that the nightmare I had suffered on the _Nostromo_ was being brushed under the rug. But, then I met my grandson, and then my grand-daughter and I meet Newt. I'm sorry I have missed so much, but I am so glad that I'm here now, and I am so glad I'm not alone..." Ellen says, getting slightly emotional, causing Stone to get choked up as well.

"That was beautiful..." She says through some sobs. Elizabeth hugs Ellen while Mils lays a hand on his grandmother's shoulder.

"Glad we think alike after all..." Elizabeth says.

"Now, let's get Newt back and make these abominations pay for what they've done," Mils says as he moves to the front of the elevator next to Stone. As the elevator slowly comes to a stop, the team of rescuers take a few short breaths, readying themselves.

The doors to the elevator open. Mils slowly moves out first, with Stone on his blind side as always, Ellen and Elizabeth move to his other side, as Ellen takes point. The decaying area sends electric bolts, steam and fire in numerous directions at random. Ellen shoots a few spurts of flame ahead of her to ward off any sentries as the beeping of the tracker picks up.

"Alright, we're getting closer..." Ellen says as the group moves down a flight of stairs, moving with the caution and precision of a well trained fighting force.

"Tighten it up Ash, I don't wanna lose anyone, not now," Mils says looking behind him, as the group comes to a three way intersection. Ellen points with her weapon and the locator down each hallway and each catwalk, with the locator's beeping picking up significantly with the correct direction. They continue on and notice some signs of xenomorph activity, such as the black mucus-covered walls, Mils and Ellen spray flame down the hallway to light the way and scare off any potential Xenos.

Elizabeth lights one of her flares dropping it at her feet, with each step the group sprays flame in spurts to conserve fuel, as they move slowly, yet sprightly with each respective increase of interval with the tracker's beeping. As they near a corner, Ellen looks down at the tracker's readout.

"Well? Which way, Ripley?" Stone asks from the rear.

"22 metres, down we go!" Ellen says as she moves down another stairway with the utmost caution, the group in tow. When they get to a large platform clearing, Stone lights one of her flares dropping it to the ground, as the group rounds another corner following the beeping of the locator.

Elizabeth is grabbed by a stray hand, she gasps a hushed cry as the group stops suddenly, she pulls back from the hand jumping away from it.

When the group prepares to fire, they stop when they see who the hand belongs to, Carter Burke, now stuck to the wall like countless colonists before him. He looks completely out of it.

"Son of a bitch...he would make it!" Mils says looking to Elizabeth.

"Ripley? Please...I can feel it, moving inside me...oh God...please you have to help me!" Burke chokes out as Stone notices a dead face-hugger on the ground, she picks it up with her knife.

"Ugh guys!" she says holding the dead parasite.

"Ahh fuck. He's a goner and he knows it. Better make this quick!" Mils says grabbing his revolver, Ellen stops him however.

"Shooting him, may not stop the Xenomorph from coming out. I'll do it!" Ellen says grabbing a hand-grenade from her belt.

"Burke? I hope God has mercy on you, cause I know I wouldn't..." Ellen says as she places the grenade in Burke's hands, and using his thumbs presses down on it, she and the rest of the group take one more look back at the man who caused so much death and destruction via his actions, they quickly move away from him as the grenade explodes.

"Alright, she should be nearby. Let's move it, they've heard that explosion by now!" Ellen says as the tracker's beeping gets quicker and quicker. However, when it morphs into one lone beep, Newt is nowhere to be find. They all look around trying to find the child they've become so attached to, Ellen motionlessly looks down and sees the locator wristband that was attached to Newt not so long ago, on the ground covered in mucus.

"Shit..." Mils says placing a hand on his Grandmother's shoulder as the group all fear the worst.

Elsewhere, close by Newt slowly regains consciousness from her mucus-laden tomb, she looks around at her surroundings and immediately notices the egg in front of her, which opens up and slowly reveals a facehugger parasite ready to go to work.

Newt screams in terror, this scream is immediately picked up by the group.

"That's our girl! Come on!" Stone yells as the group run towards said scream.

Just as the facehugger prepares to jump, Mils arrives from around the corner and immediatly shoots the parasite to bits, a nearby worker-warrior jumps into action, but is cut down by Elizabeth, who blows apart the xenomorph with deadly accuracy.

"Not bad for a rookie!" Mils congratulates her.

"Funny," Elizabeth retorts as Ellen and Stone scramble to work getting Newt out of her predicament.

"Ripley! Ripley!"

"It's okay, little Marine, we're here!" Stone says.

"Come on, grab on to me!" Ellen says as Newt is finally freed, with the girl grasping onto Ellen for literal life, just as they move to retrace their steps, a massive explosion happens behind them, forcing them to retreat the opposite way.

"Fuck! That was our exit? What now?!" Stone yells.

"We're Marines, Ash, we improvise, adapt and overcome," Mils states as he leads the group the opposite direction, moving with more caution as the area around them becomes more and more unknown. They stop however when they stumble upon something that makes their hearts all collectively stop.

The group now is surrounded by countless eggs, almost acting as a biological landmine. Recognising the egg chamber for what it is, they slowly turn, taking in their surroundings as an eerie quiet fills their ears, they make visual contact with an egg being freshly laid by a long, insect looking tube, bloated and filled with more than a hundred developing eggs, suspended from the ceiling with massive ligaments and connected to the biggest xenomorph any of them have ever seen.

This, then, is undoubtedly the Queen. The large domed frill, almost acting as a crown, and a protective outer skull to shield the true one within, gigantic spines taking the place of the dorsal tubes on her smaller progeny, and a smaller pair of arms sprouting from the centre of her chest differentiate her from the others, and the breathing of this mighty beast fill the whole chamber.

"Fuck, Hudson was right..." Stone says with her hushed voice. The Queen takes notice of the pests in front of her, as her true head emerges from the shielding of the outer skull. She hisses at the group, as slowly from a short distance away several more worker-warriors arrive. Ellen lowers Newt carefully off her shoulders and looks to the others in the group, all thinking the same thing. They each pick a xeno, aiming their pulse rifles at them, while at the same time spurting short bursts of flame towards their general area, this causes the Queen to hiss loudly, and then Ellen herself points her flamethrower towards the egg closest to her. The Queen hisses towards the other xenomorphs, who back away as ordered or at least as it seems.

Ellen looks at the Queen, horrified. To date, none of the monsters they have slain have shown an ability to communicate with each other, let alone a willingness to break off an attack. The Queen knows her eggs have been threatened, and she clearly ordered her guards to back off. She must have displayed a terrifying intelligence, Ellen thinks. Ellen and the rest of the group, now led by Newt who holds Ellen's hand, back away slowly towards the exit.

However, several eggs around them begin to open up, almost acting as a spring to the trap.

Ellen looks at the opening eggs, and then to the other members of her group.

"Oh, you bitch!" Elizabeth snarls with disgust, looking at the Queen.

"Now!" Ellen says as her and Ellizabeth torch the eggs in front of them. The Queen screams in fury, struggling in her berthing harness to stop the humans, who open fire now with their pulse rifles, slaughtering any nearby xenomorphs, but also scrambling any eggs nearby. Ellen and Elizabeth fire grenade rounds into the ovipositor as the fire rages on.

"Come on let's go!" Newt says as a xenomorph attempts to sneak up on the group.

"Behind us!" she yells as Stone shoots it.

"Come on, I think we've overstayed our welcome!" Mils says picking Newt up. Just then another scream, different but no less terrifying emits from the side, and a monstrous combination of drone and Queen emerges, ready to rip their bodies asunder. Some sort of guard, an intermediate stage between warrior and Queen, rushes at them, and they turn and fire their pulse rifles on full auto. It takes nearly all four full magazines as well as a sustained burst from the flamethrowers to put the beast down, and then Ellen throws her bandolier of M40 grenades into the fire.

"What the fuck was that?!" Elizabeth asks.

"Some sort of guard, a praetorian or something, come on!" Mils shouts as Ellen takes point, dragging her granddaughter along with her. The grenades go off sequentially as they cook off, and the group struggle to gain their footing at first. The explosion inadvertently allows the Queen to break herself free of her ligamented perch, and with a bit of a struggle, she tears herself away from her ruined ovipositor.

The rescuers, now having accomplished their mission, retrace their steps as steadily as they can, moving over their previous flares and up the stairs they had gone down several minutes earlier, as the area around them begins to disintegrate.

"Hold on honey! Hold on tight!" Mils says to Newt who follows his orders gladly. Once they arrive at the elevators, Ellen furiously hits the call button for the elevator. With no response she hits the call button for another, when a scream unlike anything they've ever heard emits from the direction of the egg chamber, followed by another as they look back in horror.

"_COME ON! GODDAMMIT!__!_" Ellen screams as the first elevator takes a long time to get down to their level, but the group immediately hear another scream of the Queen who has now caught up with them, promising agony and death.

"We've got company!" Stone screams, reading her pulse rifle, Ellen takes Newt from Mils who charges ahead to see where the Queen is located.

"The ladder!" Elizabeth shouts, as Mils meanwhile sees the massive Queen approaching.

"Not enough time! Get back!" Mils yells. As the elevator arrives finally, the group one by one hurry inside, while Mils lays down a wall of flame ahead of him. He backs up toward the elevator, but he trips on a loose grating, and his weapon goes flying as he pinwheels to regain his balance.

"Shit!" Mils yells as he fears his fate is near. Just as the Queen nears him, almost close enough to touch, two pairs of strong, yet slender arms grab him and pull him into the elevator. He looks at the faces to who they belong, and he gasps in relief at seeing Ashley and Elizabeth smile down at him.

"I'm not letting Death have you before I'm done with you, buddy boy!" Stone grins at him.

"Oh, is that what we're calling her? I thought her name was Bitch." Mils says breathlessly

Ellen aims her flamethrower, firing it to keep the Queen at bay but only a failing squirt leaves the muzzle, and now she knows her weapon has run dry. The doors to the service elevator close and the ascendance begins for the group, who brace themselves after every nearby explosion, too tired to say anything and ready to leave the hell of LV-426.

However, in their rush to leave so quickly, they have called the second elevator, which also arrives moments later on the lower area, and the Queen looks at the elevator with contemplation.

Finally, the team's elevator arrives and opens its doors as they exit into the balcony they had just left, however the dropship is nowhere to be seen.

"No..." Ellen says in a defiant but shocked tone.

"Bishop?! What the fuck!" Stone screams, as Ellizabeth notices the elevator below them beginning to rise.

"We're gonna have company. Shit, I'm out," Elizabeth says, throwing her pulse rifle to the deck and brandishing her mother's shotgun. The group members notice they're similarly light on ammo as well, Stone pulls out her pistol, as Mils grabs his father's revolver.

"Ellen get over here!" Mils says as Ellen picks up Newt, trying to shield her from the explosions. Mils does the same with Ash and his sister, whose heart is filling with despair. The area around them begins to fall apart, with moments remaining.

"Hey. We gave it a good run right?" Stone says looking up at Mils who responds with a smirk, planting a kiss on her head. Elizabeth holds her brother close, feeling that death might be near. The second elevator arrives, and after a few moments the Queen exits hissing.

"Close your eyes baby!" Ellen says shielding Newt from what could be a rather gruesome demise, but a whine of turbines is heard out of nowhere, and the dropship reappears from below.

"Look!" Newt yells seeing the dropship first, the ramp lowers itself and Hudson appears.

"Come on man let's go..." He yells as he spots the Queen.

"Oh my fucking god!" he shouts at his first sight of the monstrosity as he helps get Newt in first picking her up, then Ellen, Elizabeth and Stone. Mils sprints on tripping on the dismount, almost falling off. He's grabbed by Stone and Hudson who pull him back up, as the ramp doors close, Stone hugs Mils tightly.

"Come on, man! You two can fuck later!" Hudson yells as they all shuffle into nearby seats, and Bishop struggles to get control of the dropship, which shifts in different directions.

"Punch it, Bishop!" Ellen yells as Bishop complies, side-slipping the Cheyenne dropship away from the landing platform. The rear landing strut catches on a pile of debris for a moment, and the motors strain as they try to retract it fully. The task finally accomplished, however, Bishop firewalls the throttle, accelerating the dropship out of the disintegrating processor and into the storm filled skies, with only seconds to spare. The processor detonates finally, and the inside of the dropship is lit up like a newborn star. Ellen shields Newt's eyes, as the explosion rocks the dropship for a few seconds, however the dropship escapes the blast wave, and speeds off towards space. Bishop regains his composure and picks up a headset.

"It's okay...we're okay!" he announces, as everyone breathes a sigh of relief, with Hudson gasps in relief.

"I'll never complain about being short again!" he exhales as Stone also whoops in joy hugging her squadmate. Mils stands up and makes eye contact with his sister, and they finally embrace each other in a huge hug.

"To think we wanted to see the stars..." Elizabeth says with her brother laughing.

Ellen looks towards Newt, grasping her hair playfully.

"We made it!" She says out of breath.

"I knew you'd come," Newt replies, as the twins walk over to the pair as Ellen plants a kiss on Newt's cheek.

"Welcome back kid..." Mils says with a smile.

"We missed ya" Elizabeth adds.

-scene break-

The dropship finally arrives back on the _Sulaco_, and Mils and Stone check on Vasquez who now lays unconscious on the seats.

"She'll be okay. I gave her some pain killer, and it knocked her out. She'll be alright to move later...she'll be up, walking, and cursing at us before you know it," Hudson says giving her an amateur diagnosis, and Mils strokes her hair lightly.

"Come on let's get a stretcher..." Stone says as her and Hudson exit the dropship as Elizabeth, Ellen and Newt check on a unconscious Hicks.

"He's alright, he's just out of it...I had to give him a shot for the pain..." Bishop says as Ellen prepares to move him, but Bishop and Ellizabeth stop her.

"We'll need a stretcher to carry him to medical," Elizabeth states as the group exits the dropship.

"I'm sorry if I scared you. That platform was just becoming too unstable. I had to circle and hope that things didn't get too rough to tick you off," Bishop says needlessly explaining himself, but Ellen stops him.

"Bishop, you did okay!" she says causing his expression to brighten.

"I did?" he asks nervously.

"Yeah, really pulled our butts out of the fire..." Mils adds. The group shares a short moment of smiles and relaxed expressions, that is until a splat of liquid lands next to Bishop's foot, said liquid starts to...melt the floor.

"Carborane acid?" Elizabeth says in shock, and disbelief as that particular substance doesn't belong to anyone, or anything except the xenomorphs they had encountered.

"Shit..." Mils says as suddenly Bishop jolts violently, like being startled by a bug, his chest pushes forward like a xenomorph was ready to emerge from him, he grunts and yells in pain as suddenly a large, metallic looking, saber of a tail end slices through his chest, Ellen and Mils grab him trying to stop him from being taken by this new alien force. Elizabeth marches in front of Newt protectively.

Bishop gurgles a pain filled yell as his white blood exits his mouth, the extreme strength and force of the owner of the tail throw Ellen and Mils away from Bishop as he's pulled back towards the landing gear of the dropship, and from the darkness of the craft the Alien Queen makes her entrance onto the _Sulaco_'s cargo deck. Bishop looks up at his attacker as she pulls her massive tail back out of his body, and with one mighty movement from one pair of her claws rips the android in half, sending his upper torso one way and his legs another.

The survivors look in shock and fear all coming up with various plans and strategies.

"We've got a plan right?!" Mils asks no-one in particular.

"Run!" Ellen responds as the Queen shrieks.

"Split up!" Elizabeth adds picking up Newt, and following her grandmother for a nearby compartment. Hudson and Stone reenter the hanger shocked at what they see.

"What the fuck? We were gone five minutes!" Stone yells in shock, Mils runs towards them.

"Get the fuck back, close the shutters Hudson!" Mils yells looking back towards his family members. Ellen, Newt and Ellizabeth run towards the compartment, with the Queen herself right on their tails. They make it inside, Ellen hits a nearby button closing the doors to the compartment behind them. The Queen collides with the door, actually halting its progress down for an instant before it closes conpletely. They all pant, out of breath, tired and with the nightmare nowhere close to being over with the Queen bashing her head against the door.

Mils seeing this follows his squadmate back into the medical area they had just exited, Hudson hits a button causing emergency storm shutters to close behind them.

"We got a plan man?" Hudson asks as they fall back towards their weapons lockers through medical.

"Killing that things gonna take a lot of fire power..." Stone theorizes jogging with her squad mates, as they arrive at their weapons lockers looking at the instruments of death they could use.

"We can't...we can't kill it, acid for blood, and as big as that bitch is...it could rip the hull apart in seconds..." Mils states grabbing a flamethrower, and handing it to Stone.

"Which means..." she asks

"We scare it into the nearest airlock, I mean it's an animal man! Animals hate fire!" Hudson answers causing his compatriots to look at him in shock.

"What? Just cause I'm hung like a horse doesn't make me the dullest knife in the drawer!" Hudson says causing Mils and Stone to laugh out of fatigue, a lack of sleep and desperation.

Meanwhile, in the separated compartment the two Ripleys and Newt look for possible means to dispose of the Queen for good.

"I hope Chrissy and the others are all right..." Elizabeth says.

"They can handle themselves...here help me with this," Ellen asks as she spots something in the distance, and the trio walk over to what Ellen spots and sees the power loader.

Ellen and Ellizabeth exchange looks, as Ellen hops up into the harness and gets herself ready for the coming fight.

"What do you need us to do Ellen?" Elizabeth asks looking up at her grandmother.

"I don't want you two getting out there. You'll just get in the way!"

"Oh no! You can't count me out, not after all this time! Look, I can maybe act as bait, I can use the flares I have to try to lure it into following me!" Elizabeth proposes.

"I don't like it, but all I can say is you two, better be damn careful...I'll be out soon..." Ellen finally says as Elizabeth prepares herself

In the arms room, the three surviving Marines, all now loaded with flamethrowers, prepare to take on the final beast from LV-426, who is currently searching the entire circumference of the hangar for some prey, before finally latching eyes with the partially deformed Bishop, who looks up at the beast in awe. As it approaches, however, the doors to the compartment open, and the two young ladies emerge both with flares in their hands.

"Hey ugly!" Elizabeth says yelling and waving the flares with Newt hiding behind a nearby crate, with the Queen not knowing who to follow. Mils, seeing this, seizes the opportunity.

"That's our cue...come on!" Mils orders, as he and his two squadmates charge into the hangar.

"Hey Queenie!" Stone yells at the top of her lungs, the Queen turns and sees the marines all armed with flamethrowers.

"Come get some!" Hudson yells as the Xeno yells in anger and charges towards the trio, who respond by pouring flame on the floor ahead of them, this causes the Queen to back away from the intense heat. Then when things couldn't get any worse for the Queen, the hatch opens again, and another hulking beast emerges.

But this beast is made of metal and pumps, cables and circuits. Massive pinching manipulators rotate on fully-spinning wrists like a boxer flexing and loosening up before the championship match.

"Get away from them you BITCH!" Ellen yells lifting up the power loader's arms.

"Badass!" Hudson yells in macho slang, as the Queen charges Ellen head on only for her to slap her away with the left arm of the power loader. When it gets back up she hits her with a right hook, knocking the horror down and crashing her into a nearby stack of crates. The Queen gets back up again, her frill flattened and her jaws extended, hissing in fury at the challenge.

"Come on! COME ON!" Ellen says almost egging the creature on, and when the Queen makes a second attempt to attack, Ellen uses the vise like hook of the arm's lifter function to grasp the Queen's head in between two heavy metal clamps. The Queen uses her tail to try to pierce Ellen's head, but to no avail, Ellen lets the creature go, and the two foes move around each other almost in a dance of death.

Ellen swings, but misses a few times, as the Queen also parlays back away. Ellen takes advantage of this momentary cease-fire, and presses a few buttons on her console, to open the nearest airlock inner door located on the floor.

"I like her train of thought so far!" Elizabeth say as she and Newt join the group.

Now the Queen attacks getting closer to Ellen, Ellen grasps it again, this time however the Queen tries to obliterate her skull with her inner jaw, which pistons out like a deadly serrated switch blade. Ellen dodges successfully, and uses her built in welding torch to burn the Queen's face at point-blank range, roaring like a monster as she slowly guides the true monster towards the airlock.

"I don't like that, be ready guys!" Mils says as grabs a nearby chain, with hooks attached to it.

Ellen yells in rage, as she lifts the Queen above the airlock ready to drop her into the cold vastness of space. However the when she goes to throw the Queen grasps the frame of the power loader pulling it, Ellen and herself in a tumbling display towards the closed outer door to the airlock. Ellen screams as she is momentarily knocked unconscious by the fall, and the power loader lays on top of the Queen who squirms around like a squashed bug, dazed yet aware of it's surroundings, pinned under the massive weight of the power loader.

"Ripley!" Newt yells.

"Fuck, Ellen! Grandma!" Ellizabeth yells as Mils places one hook in a nearby grate, and the other around his waist.

"We gotta make this quick, watch the line, Hudson!" Mils yells as he jumps down towards his Grandmother like a boy scout, climbing down a rock formation. He hops down to her cutting her out of the harness.

"Ellie?! Here, get ready to put this bug down for good should this Bitch give us a fight..." he says throwing up his father's revolver.

"What the fuck have the last few hours been?!" Elizabeth replies as she catches the revolver.

As Mils carries a nearly unconscious Ripley, she fades in and out of cohesion.

"Come on Ellen! Ellen I need you stay with me!" Mils says fearing the worst as he detaches the chain from his waist, with Hudson pulling the chain out of the chamber and tossing it out of sight.

"Is that you?" She says barely cohereant as she sees the face of Andrew Mils staring at her, this image fades, and her grandson reappears as she gains her composure.

"Alright! Come on Chrissy! Come on!" Stone yells, having a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach about the situation.

As Ellen and Mils both collectively climb the ladder, the Queen grabs onto Ellen's foot. Mils almost loses her right away, but slowly gains the strength to pull her closer using the combat harness on her to try and get her to safety. Ellen yells in pain as the Xeno's grip tightens, she sees the lever that will open the outside door, she looks briefly at Mils who stares at her with a sharp look in his eyes, a look that reads "do it!"

Ellen pulls the leaver down with a huff, and the doors to the outside of space slowly open, with both Mils and Ellen now yelling in agony and fear.

The group above similarly struggles, with Hudson and Stone's armor giving them a little aid as they stop Elizabeth from falling into the dark void. Bishop begins to slide towards the door himself, but grasps a nearby vent cover. Newt screams as she almost goes in.

"Bishop!" She screams as the android stops her from going in, and the young girl grips the android tightly. Elizabeth meanwhile tries to gain her composure, holding onto the side of the chamber, with one hand holding on, and the other grasping her father's revolver. She then gets an idea.

"Hold on to me!" she yells at Stone and Hudson.

"Wasn't planning on letting go!" Stone responds as Elizabeth aims the revovler at the Queen's arm. Everything slows down, and the winds of space go silent as Elizabeth prepares to fire.

"Hope you don't plan on screaming Bitch! Cause in space, no one can hear you scream!" she says firing the revolver which tears a hole in the arm of the Queen who screams in pain, letting go of Ellen's foot and finally falling into the dark void of space, flailing around in fury at her fate.

Ellen and Mils continue to struggle against the strong pull of space, with Mils allowing his grandmother to rise before him back onto the dock, with the Mils joining her soon after, as Ellen tirelessly opens up a panel, and presses a few buttons, as the doors to the airlock close, with a thud.

The survivors slowly regain their composure, with Elizabeth and Stone helping and subsequently hugging Mils as he gains his composure, with Newt launching herself towards Ellen.

"Mommy..." she cries.

"God...oh thank God!" Ellen says as she notices something near them.

"Not bad for a human..." Bishop says with a smirk

"Or a grandma!" Hudson says jokingly, Mils and Elizabeth however follow their grandmother's sightlines as they spot something equally horrific to a Xenomorph, an egg, the parting gift of the Queen.

"We still got problems...coming Ellie?" Mils says as his sister returns their father's revolver and prepares her shotgun, the two aim their weapons at the egg.

"Ready?"

"Now!" Mils yells as him and his sister open fire on the egg destroying it quickly and precisely, with the debris of the egg now hanging from the ceiling, and the contents of it destroyed, Mils wraps an arm around his sister and returns to the group.

"Now! Now we can rest..." Ellen says as the group finally prepares for their debriefing.

Firstly, they move Vasquez and Hicks to medical, with Elizabeth helping stabilize Hicks who keeps fading in and out of consciousness, with Mils now able to take his eye patch off with his eye now fully healed. While Vasquez is up and walking on crutches cursing at Hudson for hovering around her.

"Jesus, Hudson I don't need a nurse..."

"As long as you have those crutches you do!" he retorts.

Bishop's body is put into a form of stasis, and protectively wrapped in plastic for the trip home, and the remaining marines and survivors of LV-426, all ate in relative silence, silently toasting their fallen brethren of the Corps and Hadley's Hope.

Mils logged the debriefing recording with the final message stating that.

"The planetoid Acheron, common designation LV-426, should be considered a CLASS F planet, with conclusive eyewitness testimony from only surviving member of Wey Yu administration Exobotanist Doctor Elizabeth Ripley, as well as citizen Rebecca Jorden. The planet should be considered off limits to all forms of investigation, pending an official Marine Corps planetside debrief...Corporal Christopher Mils signing off"

The time had come for the survivors to head off towards their respective cryochambers.

Hudson, helps Vasquez into hers, as Ellen and Elizabeth move a sleeping Hicks into his.

"Alright, Vas...I'll see ya in a few hours..." he begins to say, but is cut off when Vasquez gives him a quick kiss on the lips.

"Don't wait up Hud!" she says shuffling into her cryochamber which closes soon after.

"Bought time Hudson!" Mils says slapping his fellow Marine on the back.

"Hey, Hudson! Nice job keeping your cool," Ellen says with a friendly smirk.

"No problem, thanks for talking me down Ripley! Kid...Newt! glad we found ya!" Hudson says with a nice smile as he marches away. This leaves Stone and Mils together, alone again.

"So you gonna tuck me in?" Stone asks seductively looking at her official new boyfriend.

"Don't think we'd both fit...and I think what we both need is gonna require some more...privacy..." Mils answers as he gets down and kisses his Corps girlfriend tenderly.

"I could get use to this...and I look forward to consummating our Corps marriage when we get back home!" She replies as she plants one more kiss on his lips, before winking at the women behind him. She runs off jumping on Hudson's back.

"Off to bed chauffeur!" Stone yells in a faux British accent.

"Yes m'Lady...first class cryo coming up." Hudson responds moving to their pods.

Mils turns around to face Elizabeth, Newt and Ellen, the latter of which is preparing Hicks and Bishop's chambers which lower into place.

"You ladies ready to get some shut-eye?" Mils says yawning.

"Don't even need to ask..." Elizabeth says walking over to her brother, Ellen walks up behind her two grandchildren wrapping an arm around each simultaneously with Newt in tow.

"Ya know, I wasn't planning on becoming a grandma until I was already old and gray...so do me a favor and behave when we get back to Earth. You've got a grandpa that's hopefully come out of a coma," Ellen states.

"No promises," Mils says.

"We'll try at least," Ellizabeth states.

"Good. Now get some sleep you two, we've earned it!" Ellen says pecking each of her grandkids on the cheek. With Newt hugging them both tightly.

"Glad to have ya back, kiddo!"

"Sleep tight sweetie."

As Ellen and Newt walk away, a thought comes to Mils mind.

"Ya know, technically...if Ellen adopts her, then she'd be our aunt...our 12 year old aunt and our 32 year old grandma. Yeesh..."

"Ugh, way to ruin the moment, Chrissy! Besides I wouldn't mind having her as part of the family, after all I've got Stone as a sister in law so..."

"It's gonna be interesting when we get back, and hopefully our grandfather's waiting on us..." Mils says as the twins walk off towards their pods.

"Do you think he'll be the spitting image of Dad?"

"Who knows...I think Ellen's looking forward to it..."

"So are we!"

Ellen walks Newt to her cryochamber.

"Are we going to sleep all the way home?" Newt asks as she gets into bed.

"All the way home!" Ellen replies.

"Can I dream?" Newt asks as Ellen looks at her grandchildren, Hudson, Bishop, Vasquez, Stone and Hicks, and finally Newt. Her future was dark not to lone ago, but now she's not alone and the future is looking bright.

"Yes, honey. I think we all can..." she says brushing a stray hair out of Newt's face, pointing to something on Newt's shirt, when she looks down Ellen flicks her nose, as the two women giggle.

"Sleep Tight!" Ellen says with Newt replying with one of Hudson's catch-phrases.

"AYE-FIRMATIVE," Newt says as her and Ellen's chambers close and they drift off to sleep. At peace, as they prepare to return home, with a new future and a new hope for those who thought their future's would come to end on the hell of LV-426.

Now, no matter what happens, they all know one thing...

They're not alone...

The End.

Welp folks, there it is the end to my second fanfiction, and it was one doosey of a ride, right?

First and foremost, I wanna give a huge shoutout to DarthTarabus for being a great editor, beta reader and advisor on the story. Give his page a look for sure!

Now onto the big elephant in the room, what next? 

All I will say is that there will be an author update soon to address all the questions and what my next fic, will be!


	14. Aliens: Not Alone Author Update

Hello all! 

First and foremost I want to say thank you to you all for reading, reviewing, and encouraging this story since it's first chapter way back in December of last year, building it up to now over 5,000 views.

Secondly, I want to give a **HUGE** shout-out to my Beta-Reader DarthTenebrus, who not only helped fine tune the story, but also improved upon it, and added his on little touches. Once again please check out his page, he has several stories over several fandoms.

He has been a co-author of sorts in this whole endeavor, without him the story might have not been as easy to read or entertaining.

So now onto a few items of discussion.

Firstly some FAQs I have gotten in private messages and e-mails.

Why did you have Gorman die? Yet have Hudson and Vasquez survive?

Firstly I felt that with extra survivors in the form of the twins, and Stone, that Hudson and Vasquez could be saved. While with Gorman I wanted him to have a truly heroic moment, and although he technically does have this in the movie itself it comes more out of desperation rather than heroics, so I felt he need a more fitting demise without having it be do canon-breaking.

What was your inspiration for Ashley Stone?

Believe it or not I was going to have Mils' romance be Ferro, but felt that it (once again) was going to be a major headache for canonical timing (how on earth could she not get killed by the Xeno in the cockpit? Etc.). So I decided to create another OC which is where Stone came from, her inspiration was to have a little bit of comic relief, at the same time not being based on an actual person. I picked Helen Slater to play her, because I felt she was a good 80s actor, but not a megastar.

Why is Andrew Mils in a coma?

This one is actually a little more to do with the type of movies the Alien trilogy contains, one of my biggest critiques of Alien 3 (a good premise, but slightly flawed execution IMO) is that they kill off Hicks and Newt (brutally I might add) right away, out of nowhere, just like that. I felt that something similar would be done in Aliens, because there needed to be a loose end, a key witness to what happened on the _Nostromo_ who couldn't testify at the moment of the inquiry. I also felt it was the way it would be written at the time of the movie, additionally I think it brings possibility for the sequel.

Why stop Alien 3 from happening canonically.

I like Alien 3, it's a good return to the roots of the franchise, but it's beginning can tend to ruin the rest of the movie for people, and the ending is also a downer. I wanted to have a happy ending, with hope the same way Aliens ended without the catch of "and then Alien 3 happens". Also, I didn't want there to be a "stasis interrupted" moment down the line (if you played Aliens: Colonial Marines you know what I mean).

So then what next for our heroes?

All I can say is that I'm taking a break for good this time, I'm almost done with college and should be graduating in early 2020, so I might go silent for the time being. I have in the meantime given DarthTenebrus a little something to work on, he's beta-reading _Alien Isolation: Not Alone, _fine tuning, adding it extra things and making it a little easier to read. So stay tuned for that story to be cleaned up a bit.

With that said, I look forward to delivering future stories to you all!

Thanks again

EAP404 😊


End file.
